November 4, 2014

Hello All,

Lyle here...

Wow, how time has gone by. Can't believe we are in November already. It has been a month and a half since our last post. 

Have you ever had a time where life was so full you struggle to remember everything and in the end you feel like you have done little? But then, when you take the time to reflect you see God's hand so clearly involved in everything?  It seems to me these past six weeks or so have been exactly that. 

Peter, Daniel, & Thomas

In the last update Ingrid talked about Daniel and how he had come with his grandmother to our hotel on September 20th. Ingrid had treated wounds to the feet of the grandmother caused by rats nibbling on them at night while she was passed out from drinking. We believe she has leprosy, which is why she feels nothing in her feet and is missing so many toes. Daniel also had malaria, so we took both Daniel and his mother to the Moroto referral hospital. Daniel was to get his treatment and then go to Pastor Noah's and Bill Behrman's home for boys. This is the same home where Peter lives. Short story is he never showed up, so we were of course very concerned. We kept looking for him wherever we went and did not find him. This all leads us to Monday the 22 of September. What a day. First of all God answered our prayers for Daniel. He showed up alone outside our hotel, but with an extremely high fever and sicker from malaria then he had been two days earlier. He told me he was thirsty so I gave him some water, which he immediately vomited up. Ingrid and I took him to a local clinic where they were able to immediately begin treatment. His blood work showed he also had some sort of a general infection somewhere as his white blood cell count was elevated as well as the malaria. He was able to get hydrated through an IV, he received injections for his malaria for five days, as well as antibiotics through the IV for five days for an unknown infection. What a remarkable transformation. Today this young boy's countenance bears no resemblance to the boy we encountered so many times on the street. He is now enrolled in school, living with Pastor Noah, and is extremely healthy. The joy in his smile is unmistakable! He is not just surviving - he is thriving. His transformation is a miracle.  He delights in showing us his schoolwork. If you remember, Daniel was the street boy we were concerned about, whether he was regularly sniffing glue. He seemed slow and we wondered if he had damaged his brain. May I say this young boy is not slow in any way. He is integrating well with the other boys and is excelling in school. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness in Daniel's life!!! Please continue praying for Daniel. While he is thriving physically, our heart is that spiritually he thrives just as dramatically.

Rose and elderly man

Soon after we got Daniel settled (same day) we went to a manyatta where an elderly man with a dislocated hip lives. Ingrid's language teacher, Rose, had asked her to visit him to see if she could offer any insights as to how the man might be treated. As it turned out this man's injury was over two month old. We were able to pray with him before leaving. After consulting with a Doctor, Ingrid learned, that nothing could really be done. This man must now live with a permanently dislocated hip. Ingrid was also able to confirm with the Dr. that based on his complaints of where his pain was, he most probably also had a fracture. Even in the States, a surgery would be very challenging for a man his age, but here in Karamoja, impossible. 

While we were in the Manyatta there was a drunk man waving a ponga (machete) around. We were not quite sure what was going on, but we were already in the process of leaving. As we were driving away Rose began explaining to us that man with the ponga was the husband of one of the old man's daughters. His wife was in the process of hanging herself in her hut. He was basically saying, let her die. We were not quite sure we were hearing correctly and asked Rose, "You mean she is trying to commit suicide at this very moment?" Her response was, "Yes and nobody is willing to go into the hut to cut her down in case she is already dead." I immediately turned the car around and we quickly returned to the manyatta. We were relieved to discover that a young girl had gone into the hut and cut the woman down. The woman who had tried to kill herself was alive and as drunk as her husband. She was showing us the scars where her husband beats her and wounds where he has shot her with arrows. I asked Rose what would have happened if she had died. Would the Police have been called? She said, probably not. They simply would have disposed of her body. Nothing more. This is the unfortunate tragedy of so many. They live life with no hope and numb themselves with alcohol. The darkness and hopelessness in this manyatta is palatable. 

Listening to Proclaimer

We have been able to visit this manyatta several times since then. Ingrid was able to get a crutch for the elderly man along with tylenol. He is able, with assistance, to stand up and use the crutch and a walking stick to move around very painfully and slowly. Not an ideal solution, but all that can be done for now that we are aware of. On one of the visits we were able to share and talk about John chapter one with many from this manyatta. We had brought a proclaimer with us and were able to play John 1 in Ngakaramojong as many gathered and listened intently. Through the help of Ingrid's language teacher, Rose, we were able to talk about God's love for us and how His desire is be intimately involved in each of our lives and that He is not some distant and impersonal god, as their traditional god, akuj, is. We asked if we could come back and share in the future. We were told this would be fine. People all around this elderly man are eating, but they are not his family, so they will eat in front of him and not share. He is dependent on his two daughters for food and evidently they have very little. And since he does not contribute to getting food, he only gets some if there is enough after everyone else's needs are met. This is so far from how the west portrays cultures like this as idyllic with everyone carrying for each other and joining together in community. The heart of man is wicked. It is true everywhere in the world and on September 22nd it was so dramatically played out in front of us. Please pray for this old man. We have no idea what the long term solution is. Please pray for us as we continue relationships in this village. Pray that their hearts will be open to the Gospel of our Lord. That they will find hope and transformation in Him and through Him.

Discussing John 1

Our new Unit leaders, John & Krys Cassel, are back in Uganda and we were able to spend five wonderful days with them as they visited Moroto. What an encouragement they are. As we talked through much of what we have seen and are experiencing we were able to formulate a "Vision and Strategy Plan" (VSP). For those who are not aware, AIM has recently changed their framework for ministry. The old framework (Ingrid & I are part of it) allows ministry to take place in many different forms and contexts. The latitude given was the same whether the people group was reached or unreached. AIM's new framework has been redefined and the emphasis and priority will be to unreached people groups. With the definition given by Joshua project and IMB, the Karimojong are a reached people group, so all future AIM missionaries to the Karimojong, long or short term, will be limited to equipping church leaders. In our context this simply means we cannot just set up a ministry, such as community health evangelism, unless it is done in partnership with the indigenous church and is also equipping church leaders for ministry at the same time. If the Karamojong were to be considered unreached then the context of potential ministries is expanded. So for Ingrid and I, we are under the old framework, while anyone joining us will be under the new framework. Sound confusing? It did to us also, but as we worked through this with John and Krys we were encouraged that there is much ministry potential. The vastness of the needs around us with regard to equipping church leaders offers more opportunity for ministry then we can meet, if the churches are willing. If we were to consider ministry in all of Karamoja, there would be no way we could even scratch the surface. We had received some good advise from the man in charge of all development for Northern Uganda, Dr. Robert. He told us that Karamoja makes up 10% of all of Uganda and trying to cover the whole area is not prudent. He recommended we pick a sub-county or a district. We were able to pray about this and discuss it with John and Krys. So for now we will be focusing on Moroto district. We talked about placing a team adjacent to a manyatta. That team, working with the indigenous church would be working with and equipping leaders. The team's duration would be three years, then they would move on. The team's main role would be living examples of what a transformed life looks like. They would be encouraging church leaders to remove their cultural lenses they currently view life through and replace it with the lens of God's word, just as westerners need to do the same. This means that the team would need to be willing to challenge themselves in the same way. As team leaders, Ingrid and I would be responsible for the initial team and any subsequent teams. We have written up a draft VSP and sent it to John and Krys. I'm sure it will be a work in progress, still requiring other levels of approval, but we are excited that our Lord is leading us to the most relevant way to share Him with others and to see transformed hearts and lives. Please pray for us, as well as John and Krys, as this process takes place. Once approved, the VSP will be circulated and we will then be able to write up individual job descriptions. Our Lord knows who he is calling to join His work in Moroto district. So please pray also for those who are even now being called. 

Shalome

Not all things this month have been so "heavy." We were in Kotido, a town about 2.5 hours north of us for a few days. We drove our landlord, his wife, and his daughter, so they could share their needs with their home church. It was a wonderful and relaxing time. We were able to spend a little time with the north Karamoja Bishop as well as one of the Reverend's. At church we could really sense the service was about worship, not religion. On a side note, the reason our landlord, Israel, was travel with his family, was to raise money for his daughter, Shalom, who has leukemia. It is being recommended she receive a bone marrow transplant and he is looking for those who might be led to assist. The cost of a transplant is prohibitive for him and he cannot do this alone. Here is a link to a fund raising website, that also gives the background to what is going on. Please take the time to listen and pray. If led, please help. http://www.gofundme.com/fxxd78

We were able to spend a week in Kampala the end of October. It was a great time seeing those we don't normally get to see. We went saying it was a vacation, but it was really a working vacation. I also got a tooth fixed that I had broken when we first arrived in States our last visit. Dental care in Kampala is good and significantly less expensive then the U.S., which is why we waited. 

This coming Friday will be the first day I will be at the prison. I will have 1/2 hour to share a short message with the guards and work to develop more regular times to meet. I am looking forward to this opportunity. I still need to set times with the police. Please pray that I hear the Lord and faithfully communicate what He is saying. Also, that doors will open with the police. 

On a more personal level we continue to struggle with being seen only as dollar bill signs. If I could draw a comic of how we feel, it would be of two dollar bill signs walking down the street. One named Lyle and the other Ingrid. The people would be pointing at the dollar bill signs yelling "muzungu, muzungu (name for white person). This is how we feel we are so often identified. Not who we are, but how we can be used. The begging is constant. This is not an unusual feeling. Many have to struggle through this. We know our Lord will use these feeling and experiences to grow us more and more into His image. So please pray for us that we follow Him, grow more and more like Him through this, and resist the temptation to harden our hearts or become angry. 

As I look back, what I've written about only covers part of what has been going on. We are blessed and God is active. We praise Him and give Him the glory.

Something very poignant to close with. It is a short quote given to us on a card by some friends in the States, the McNeals; "Let your weakness be a door to My presence. Whenever you feel inadequate, remember, I am your ever present help." No more encouraging or truer words can be spoken as we look back over these last six weeks. It is in our weaknesses that we are made strong. But, we have a choice. Do we allow those weaknesses to draw us into the presence of our Lord, or do we try to struggle through on our own. May our weaknesses be a door to His presence. May He be glorified as He grows us more and more into the image of His Son, our Lord.

Love,

Lyle and Ingrid