August Blog post
Hello to you all, it is already August!! It has been eight months since we last wrote a blog. And for me (Ingrid) in some ways it seems like it has been a lot longer. It has been probably our toughest time spiritually since our feet first touched Karimojong soil. 2 Corinthians 6:10a says, “Our hearts ache, but we always have joy.” I would say that this sums up well our lives right now. Contextually, the first part of this chapter of 2 Corinthians describes the Good News of salvation and the hardships of Paul as he lives for Christ. We do have an enemy that tries to get our hearts, minds and eyes off of Jesus, and it is Jesus alone on whom our faith depends. The battle is very real in our lives.
Lyle and I were able to take a vacation or ‘holiday’ as it is called here the last couple of weeks of July, long overdue (last October) for the level of activity that has been our normal. We just returned to Uganda on the 30th of July. It was lovely being in a different setting, having the time to let the Holy Spirit walk with us in revisiting our last eight months and give us insight into our thinking and space and eyes to see the truth in our hearts. We shared with each other what we heard from the Spirit, and were surprised (but shouldn’t have been) that the Holy Spirit was speaking to each of us the same question: what does Biblical joy look like for us in Karamoja?” How does Hebrews 12:2 “For the joy set before Him (Jesus), He endured the cross, despising the shame....” mesh with Proverbs 17:22 “a joyful heart is good medicine.” Does joy look the same in these two different scenarios? It feels like our lives have consisted of joy and sorrow with little in between.
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| Shaela with our pet guinea fowl, Mr. Fussbudget (she would have taken him back to the USA with her if she could have) |
Some of the joys have been the sweetness of unity in the team God has put together here in Moroto District. In our last blog, we had four ladies from around the world and one man from Uganda working with us in bringing the good news of the Lord to the precious Karimojong people here in Moroto District. Our granddaughter Shaela came to visit the end of Dec. for 3 weeks, and watching her unabashed enthusiasm to don the Karimojong sheets the locals wear, to carry things, carry babies on her back and jerry cans on her head was a delight for us. Her loving heart felt our challenge, as she loved on children who were uncared for. We are grateful to the Lord for one in our family to visit, and pray that He opens the door for others. Shaela’s coming was a great encouragement to us. We are seeing some Karimojong believers growing deep in their faith and the pleasure of watching the Holy Spirit open their understanding to His ways and Will is such rich treasure. It is such joy.
In late January two more men from Uganda joined our team and in February a woman from the UK came. In March we welcomed two new families, one, seven in number, from the states and one, three in number, from Germany. So within a month our team more than doubled in size, with many cultures to blend, and our desire for the team to gel in unity was the foremost prong of our energy. We were not unaware of the war being waged in the spiritual invisible realm during this time, as sharing the Good News of freedom from darkness through Jesus Christ, which we are here to live and proclaim, is not what the enemy wants; and if those sent to live this can be kept from living the Oneness that Jesus and the Father displayed, then our presence would be useless.
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| Karimojong warrior with his walking stick |
It was interesting with new eyes on the ground, living and working with us, to see what we have become used to. We live in a land where spears and bows and arrows is normal for boys and men to be carrying along with long walking sticks with a large ball head, dressed with sleeveless T-shirts and sheets wrapped around their waists, females of all ages in pleated skirts and T-shirts being the norm. Shepherds, mostly boys often as young as four to five, moving livestock, mostly cattle, goats and sheep across open land is something we have grown accustomed to, an everyday experience. Polygamy is the normal family structure, teaching the new team members the vernacular “the co” means co-wife, and there usually are more than two with many children “produced”, again the local vernacular. The most common way to get water is to fetch it from boreholes instead of wells, with manual pump handles and a faucet with the water deposited in jerry cans. Shaela conquered this well, as you then lift the 44 pound plastic can onto your head or haul several in a wheelbarrow and carry it to your home, many times a long distance over rough ground.
Except for mobile phones (most adults have one) and a erratic bit of electricity which most do not have, as well as motor vehicles buzzing along the roads, (again a majority don’t have but see) life toddles along at a pace I read about in the Bible. This is called ‘footing’ meaning walking. People commonly wash their clothes in rivers or basins with jerry can water, often drying them on bushes or the tall grasses in the sun, they bath in the same rivers in broad daylight with no privacy (mostly boys and men), and clean motor vehicles and motor cycles in the same rivers when there is water in them. Some have what they call bathing shelters, three sided or three and a half sided enclosed areas where the women usually bathe with jerry can water. People live life a lot slower here, just as the lives of the people in the Bible, allowing us the privilege of having the Word seem a lot more tangible. We live much of that life in our present reality. As I was reading in the Old Testament about the rhythms of life back then and the weapons used in everyday life there, it was so relate-able. I read that there are over 65 references to arrows in the Bible and all the scriptures I have read relating to spears describe an active violence associated with them. This too is part of our lives here.
The sorrow we live with is being witness to destruction of the human soul in so many ways. Abuse in all forms is also a normal part of life; being abused and beaten is accepted as a part of everyday life. It is hard to know what is helpful, as the ones abused are so grieved by it but seem to accept it instead of fight it. Many incidents are alcohol related as the consumption of large quantities of alcohol is also a normal part of life. Most people seem to have the mindset, as I see in the US as well, that if someone is prospering financially, then “God” is pleased with them, and if you are abused or things are going badly financially, then “God” is punishing you. People are the same all over the world, associating physical comfort with Godly approval and yet Jesus lived just the opposite with no financial gain and had God speak over Him, “this is My Son in whom I am well pleased.” He also suffered much physical abuse at the hands of people thinking they were doing God a favor. That is one of the examples I use with those having been beaten, I let them know that Jesus understands, that He too was beaten as an innocent person. I then build from there. It is amazing how many people do not know that about our Lord and Savior. His suffering was for our sakes, and also for us to take comfort in.
The spears and arrows in Karamoja are used for hunting, as offensive/defensive weapons and for inflicting pain. We know women who are pricked by the spears or arrows of their men as punishment. One woman tried to hang herself as she saw her drunken husband coming into the manyatta; she thought death was better than one more episode of torture. How do we speak life and truth into a reality of destruction? We have found that what speaks the loudest is our actions not our words. Kindness, compassion, forgiveness and wanting to get to know someone individually, even in asking what their name is, is making an impact. We are seeing individual lives being slowly transformed and that is joy, but we also have sorrow of watching some who gave lip service to change, turn their backs on the truth of scripture. One woman, who I had a two year investment in, made the statement that God didn’t really think we could follow the Bible and forgive, He had to know it was too hard. Oh how my heart broke, but I know that only the Holy Spirit can draw people into the truth, I cannot. What I can do is live the truth, because it is Christ who lives in me. His power can conquer the sin, which the enemy uses to steal, kill and destroy souls. I have to remind myself of this very often.
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| Annabelle and Ingrid praying for an ill person in Lotirir |
I feel very privileged that the Lord is allowing me the honor to live His word and to share His word and truth with the Karimojong people. Lyle and I share the gospel many times a week with groups as well as the mutual sharing our own team partakes in. One such time continues to stand out to me. I was sharing at our little church in Lotirir about why sacrifice was necessary in the Bible, and had transitioned from the Old Testament examples which were to prepare us for the last sacrifice needed, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins. I then asked the question, “if you have accepted Jesus Christ’s sacrifice in your life, and you go to the shrine to sacrifice an animal, what are you telling God?” Our church is very interactive, I am happy to say, and many answered, “we are saying Jesus wasn’t enough.” One elderly lady piped up and said, “ I go but I don’t join in, so I am in the middle.” The Lord quickly brought to my mind that spiritually there is no middle, there is light and dark. I was able to share that with her, and bring out scripture that communicates this. The church grew very quiet, including the man interpreting for me. He stopped me and asked for a time of prayer, and he was quiet for a very long time. Pray for him and his wife, who are the lay readers for this new church. They have been able to move out to the bush to do life with the people on a daily basis. Their names are John and Esther. They are a young couple who I believe genuinely love the Lord, and want to know Him better. We realize that all of us, must look at what are cultural lies being told to us, where we have believed the lie of middle ground and we must put them aside and chose to live a pure Biblical culture. Our team is all in process of doing this, and we are asking the Karimojong believers to be moving in this way as well.
Please pray for our team, one of our Ugandan brothers, has had to leave us, his job transferred him elsewhere. He is dearly missed as his life was a reflection of a humble sincere walk with the Lord. I was so sad, and had trouble accepting that this was God’s will, but I am trusting this to the Lord. Most of our team, if not all, have had lots of struggles with people they are investing in being the recipients of violence or having family deaths that we know could have been avoided in our home countries. It is hard to accept what we see as needless pain, suffering and death here, when it would not happen where we come from. Even the joy of having a baby born has a sadness to it when the father only comes around to impregnate the mother but provides no help or support to keep this precious soul alive. Oh please pray for me, what does joy look like for me here? I am desiring to think like Jesus did while he was on earth, to put my thoughts and energy into what really matters, and to not waste emotional energy on things that God wouldn’t have me investing in. I don’t think I am there yet, I struggle with having my focus on wanting to have people have at least a minimum of physical comfort yet knowing that I cannot sustain this, and what matters forever is where the soul ends up. These precious people are so dependent on outside help that their default is for someone to give to them. Our desire is for them to understand that God has equipped them with everything they need to care for themselves. That is part of the deep darkness that covers this region, is the people buying into the lie that they are helpless to help themselves. It is a spiritual poverty that only the Lord has the power to break, and He has asked our team to be a light set on a hill for all to see, to be an example, living life with the Karimojong. He didn’t say, we were to be the light in every house, may we only be responsible for what our Lord is asking of us, and finding our joy in obeying our Creator, meeting His expectations of us, not our own or other human beings.
As I close, I have shared much transparently from my heart. I pray that you can read it, pray for me, and still love me. I want to briefly update you on some of our ministry areas a bit more.
Lotirir
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| Shaela being prayed for at the church under the tree in Lotirir |
The lay reader John and wife Esther have moved there. Esther is pregnant and will give birth in September I think. Please pray for them to let the Lord transform their thinking as they are an example to the believers out there. Our little church is starting to make cement block to begin collecting them to start building a church structure, this is an exciting step of faith for this church. Land has been purchased and we now have, I think, about 200 blocks. Pray for hearts and minds to be open to the living Word of God.
Rupa
We are holding Bible studies in two different areas of this sub county at their request. We have a young Karimojong man who has a heart for this area, he and his wife just had a baby girl named Divine Favor. Pray for them to be wholly grounded in the truth of scripture and obedience to it not to culture. Their names are Timothy and Sarah. Pray for the peace of Christ to prevail in our times with the people, as most times we are met with lots of disruption. The few who are sincerely hungering for the Word must compete with people wanting to cause confusion or by people demanding that we give them things. One of our team members had a rock thrown at her and it hit her in the forehead. Another woman was groped by a boy no more than ten years old - a darkness like we have never seen. One of the families on our team has a desire to work with a group of boys who live in Rupa, kind of like an orphanage but not all are orphans just abandoned.
Nakapilimen
Our Bible study there is a highlight as we are seeing some lives being transformed through understanding God’s word. Our next step there is teaching these believers how to study the Bible for themselves thru a method called Discovery Bible Studies and for them to begin leading the Bible studies. Pray that we can equip them well, as most bibles here have no references or ways to cross reference in the Bible.
Prisons
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| From left to right released prisoners: Joyce & Sarah part of our prison ministry and some guy we don't know |
Joy and sorrow: So some of our most passionate believers have been released, praise the Lord, but oh do we miss their presence. A couple of those released have stuck around and are joining us weekly in sharing in the prison so we have the ability to get to know them better and encourage them on the outside. We have been able to help them find jobs to support themselves. One of them, I had mentioned about a year ago, when she asked me if she had to give up brewing alcohol to give her life to Christ. I just told her Christ would help her find work, and He has not failed her. The joy in her eyes comforts my heart. Three of the women, who I have had the privilege of watching the Holy Spirit transform, have been transferred to another prison. Two of them are in for murder. They had told me they were being transferred and as they are illiterate I was able to give them a recording of the NT in a box called a “Treasure”. One of these three women was the one, I talked around a year ago, who had a dream and saw a crown of thorns. I explained her dream with Christ carrying the crown of thorns for our sin; she said she wanted to follow Jesus. I had felt led to tell her to talk to Jesus and with Him repent of her sin, as opposed to me praying for her. When I came the next week, a radiant light shined out of her eyes, and I knew she had met the Living God. That light continued to radiate as long as she was with us. Please pray for these three to remain faithful to the Lord and go deeper still with Him. Their names are Regina, Veronika, and Maria.
Team
Our team members are in four different churches in Moroto, it has been a pleasure to watch everyone obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit and not shrink back from following His leading. One family feels that Lotirir is to be their home church. Please pray for all of us as the church is a mission field, with many feeling they are saved by going to church instead of having a vibrant loving relationship with God. Pray that we will love these ones well, and be humble lights of life. One of our team members is teaching discipleship at the Church of Uganda Diocese Training Center for Karamoja. We are excited for this opportunity to have young men and women actually have an opportunity to understand what relationship with our Lord is supposed to look like. Please pray for these students to give their lives to Jesus and to live for Him alone. At this same college, Lyle is involved in setting up a rabbit farm to provide protein for the students and hopefully a sustainable way to have the college generate some cash flow.
