Lyle
here…..
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
