July 9, 2015

Matthew 9:36-38: ‘When He (Jesus) saw the crowds, He had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to His disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord Who is in charge of the harvest, ask Him to send more workers into His fields.”’

Hello to you from Moroto in July!  Ingrid writing this time J.  As we deepen our roots here in Karamoja, the above scripture in Matthew takes on a more three dimensional perspective. I have always understood that too few who call themselves Christian are actually willing to serve others as Christ did by pointing to the living, holy God while dying to selfishness; but I now feel I have a more real comprehension of the description of the people being confused and helpless. I now wonder if the crowds had any idea that Jesus saw them as confused and helpless.  The amplified Bible describes the crowds as bewildered, harassed and distressed, dejected and helpless.

I watch the precious people here in Moroto district daily choose destruction as a way of life, and my heart breaks for them and yet I can only offer them living water.  There are so many and I am but one, and there are few that I get quality time with; I pray that the Lord Who is in charge of the harvest will send more workers here into His fields.  Please join me in this prayer, that the people here will see that Lyle and I are not just an odd couple (though we are), but that there are many others who beat with Christ’s love in their chests.

One of the few I get quality time with is a woman named Esther. Although her parents said they were Christian, they gave her to a Mu$lim man for a dowry.  As we have gotten to know each other better and talk deeper, she shared that she thought Christianity and I$lam were two parts of the same belief.  Her daughters go to an I$lamic school here in Moroto and she brought me the religious education notes her daughter took in this class.  The notes very accurately described the differences. I was able to show her how I$lam cannot accept Jesus as the Way, the Truth and Life as John 14:6 so clearly states.  As she has grappled with what I have said, we also discovered that her belief was in “God” but Jesus had no place there.  I tried to explain that Jesus is the reason we are able to have a complete relationship with God, but she seemed unable to grasp this.  In praying how I could present to her the truth without big English words she doesn’t understand and my baby K’jong not sufficient, I was reminded of the “Evangle Cube” I had felt led to buy and bring with me.  In pictures it explains the sin and fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, our separation from God, and our absolute inability to restore that relationship on our own merits.  The cube folds into different forms with different photos, the best one being the cross as the bridge between God and mankind. She seemed to grasp this better, and again strongly stated that she wanted to follow God and know Jesus.  Please join me in praying that this becomes her reality.

We were able to hold another Protestant Pastor’s conference in our empty living room J. Esther was there as well, and the man teaching spoke of how many here in Uganda think that salvation is attained by their efforts, and how the Bible shows how incorrect this teaching is.  This conference was translated into Ngakarimojong and so Esther was hearing everything I had tried to explain, but now in her own language.  At one point when the speaker was driving home the need for Jesus to be the center of our life, she ran over to me and said, “This is what you were telling me.”  She got it!!!  Now the challenge of building on the foundation of truth, Jesus Christ, in a way she can understand.

We have had a whirlwind month, an AIM Central region conference that happens every 18 months, with AIM missionaries from 6 countries coming together to be fed God’s Word and to strengthen and be strengthened by each other.  It was a fabulous time.  We were very grateful for the 4 days together with many others serving in very difficult circumstances.  We picked up a woman from Chicago, who came for a vision trip, wanting to see if Moroto was too remote for her to be a missionary in.  Also a young woman from the UK came for three weeks to see what

Karamoja was like. This was really our first experience having believers here with us for more than a few days, and we have so enjoyed it. They have both left for their perspective homes and we will wait to see if the Lord will bring them back.

We have also made airline reservations to fly back to the USA to welcome another grandbaby in November.  Moe and Jens, who live in Big Fork, MT are having a baby girl, and AIM graciously allows for us to go out to help and meet our newest family member.  We are grateful for this unexpected trip, as we had thought it would be the middle of 2016 before we hit American soil again.

We also had the joy of fellowship in Kaabong, Karamoja where another American couple and their three children live.  There are several of us from the USA in Karamoja, which is interesting because we are the only Americans in Moroto district at present.  There were about 12 people who gathered at their house and we celebrated the US independence from Great Britain with wonderful food and sparklers bought in Kampala.  It was so good to be with others serving in different districts of Karamoja.  We are all experiencing the same challenges and struggles and being able to talk together is quite comforting.

Our garden has been a source of joy for us, as we have been able to produce a variety of vegetables and share with our guards and Esther a bit of our local vegies from the states.  They now know what radishes, sweet corn, green beans, basil, dill, cilantro, sage, parsley and such are.  Simon puts the dill in his beans and he said we have ruined him for any other way to cook beans. We are so grateful to our Lord for the people we are working with here at our home. 

Lyle and I were visiting a couple who have befriended us here in Moroto about a month ago, they are from a different tribe but teach here.  They had a K’jong girl, maybe 17 years old, helping with the laundry.  I greeted her and with the help of the lady, Betty, shared with her how much God loves the Karimojong. She looked me in the eye and said, “If He loves us so much, why is there no rain.” I prayed quietly and waited for the Lord to lead me.  I finally said, “When you get the rain and the crops, what do you do with them?” I asked, “Do you thank God and use them wisely or do you have big drunken feasts and waste them?”  She didn’t answer me, so I asked her, “Why should God give you rain, if you don’t appreciate Him for it by how you live?”  Betty pressed her for an answer, and she finally acknowledged that they waste the crops on these parties and take the grain to the shrines to celebrate instead of thanking God.  It was very insightful for me, as I wouldn’t have come up with that question on my own.

I shared this incident with Pastor Noah (he is Karimojong) about a month ago when he went with Lyle and me to one of the manyattas we have a relationship with (the lady I have befriended is a widow, her name is Nakut Rose). She was very worried because the rain had passed her area, even though many other areas had received great amounts of rain.  Pastor Noah shared with her and the others gathered around us in her house what God had me ask the young girl at Betty’s.  He explained to them about honoring God and storing their grain so that when dry season comes they still have food. How God provides enough if people use it properly. 

The whole group, men and women seemed to really get what he was saying.  I was overjoyed. Nakut Rose took us out back and her maize (corn) was about two feet high and browning as were her groundnuts.  We held hands together and prayed in a group and asked the Lord to bless this garden and the labor of her hands. Well when I went out last week to see her and bring her to the conference, her maize was over 7 feet tall, no brown and the ground nuts were doing well.  She had even planted sorghum within this last month due to the rains that fell there.  She shared that because of the rain, the weeds were growing so much that they were weary trying to take care of them.  She asked if we could help her with some cash to hire workers to weed the gardens.  Lye and I felt we were suppose to do so, so we gave her some cash to hire workers but also felt we should go out and help ourselves. And so we did. This past week, we took Esther with us to help interpret and weed the crops Nakut Rose had planted.  Esther had never been to this area, called Lotirir, and was overjoyed to go with us.  We got to the place about 8:30 a.m. before the sun is too hot and weeded for about two hours.  During that time, many K’jong came to watch in amazement because they didn’t think we knew how to garden or weed or wield a hoe. Esther was also amazed that we could work so hard.  It makes me sad to think that so many have a misconception of who Americans are.   

We recently had an eye-opening incident here at our house.  Lyle and our guard Simon went with our neighbor to take the puppies next-door out to a korral (where cows and goats are kept).  As they left before I was home, they saw a young girl outside our gate.  Simon asked her in Ngakarimojong what she needed, and she told him she was waiting for auntie (me), as she was sick.  I had walked home and hadn’t seen her, but was outside feeding the chickens, both the neighbors and ours, when I heard a tap on the gate.  I went up and this precious face said "I am sick please help me."  So I went outside the gate to check and sure enough this girl had a high fever. I could tell from just touching her forehead.  She said her aunt had beaten her and chased her away for burning the beans.  I brought her to the veranda, and sat her down.  One of our guests and a local pastor were in the house talking, so I asked our guest to take a look, as she is a doctor.  Well the girl had over a 102 temp and was shaking.  With the pastor’s help, we were able to get from the girl that she thought it was malaria.  I gave her Tylenol and started the treatment for malaria; I have children’s doses on hand.  I got a mat and let her lay down.  We discussed what to do, as taking her to the hospital wasn’t an option, because they would not accept her without a relative accompanying her.  She was very sick and we didn’t know what to do because she wouldn’t share with us where her auntie was. When Lyle got home, 2 hours later, he went to the police station to find out what to do.  He came back with a policewoman who took the girl with her.  But the shocking thing for me was, that the police thought she had been planted to scout out our place to see what was here to steal.  That thought had never crossed my mind.  As I have had a few days to process this possibility, what the Lord continues to impress upon me is this, be like Jesus on this planet, who does only what the Father tells Him to do, no matter what.  I think of Jesus at the pools of Bethsaida, where He only healed one man, and not everyone.  That has always stirred me. It must have been difficult for Jesus to leave the others still in their infirmity, but He trusted His Father and obeyed Him.  Please pray for me that I will do the same, obey and not go off on my own, no matter how much it pains me.  Also please pray for me that I will not let suspicion keep me from showing Christ’s love to those at the gate, no matter their intent.

Our newest additions! A rooster (gift from our neighbors)

and a hen. The hen is not sick. The stylish shaved neck look 

is actually the type of breed it is.

I want to end this with a huge Praise to our Lord that Lyle and I are going to be able to take a real vacation the end of July.  It will be our first since 2012 where we had an extended time to just sit and be. We are combining my birthday and our 18^th year anniversary and going to the SW of Uganda for 5 days.  We are excited for this.

We continue to find the words hard to express how grateful to our Lord we are for all of you who love us, pray for us and care about our lives and the Karimojong people.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Please join us in praying for laborers for the harvest here in Karamoja, which according to our visitors is “ripe!!”