January 6, 2016

Lyle here – yes... For those who have not heard from us, we are still alive. Wishing everyone a VERY belated Christmas and praying your New Year is beginning well!

Baby Cora Grace

It has been many months, a little over three to be a little more exact, since we have written. So much has happened since that time! As most of you know we went back to the U.S. because Moe, one of our four daughters, was very close to giving birth to the newest addition to their family, Cora Grace. They now have two daughters and two sons! Before we went to Montana to spend time with Moe, Jens, and family, we began our trip on the east coast visiting Amy, Pat, and family. As you may recall, the reason we were able to return to the U.S. last time was for the birth of their second child, Joshua. As it would be phrased here in Uganda: “As long as our girls keep “producing” we are able to travel back to the U.S. to be part of it.” I’m guessing this is a trend that is not going to continue at the same pace. Oh well. After a wonderful time with Pat & Amy we traveled to Seattle for a short time. We were able to greet a few friends and spend a little time with Nicole, as well as Brit, Shane, and family. We were also able to go and visit our church family in Redmond, Redmond Assembly of God. It was so wonderful seeing everyone and having a wonderful time of fellowship afterward. Then it was off to Montana for the purpose of the trip – to welcome baby Cora into the world. She was born on November 13, 2015. She weighed out at a healthy 8 pounds 8 ounces. The delivery was again a rough one for Moe, loosing a lot of blood, having an emergency medical procedure, and the need for two transfusions. But in the end all was well, for which we are all grateful and so appreciative of all those who prayed. Alakara jik nooi (thank you so very very much)!

While helping with Cora and the boys, we were able to get away and spend a night in Frenchtown and then Sunday morning with our other church family at Frenchtown Community Church. It also was such a blessed time and the fellowship afterward was such a joy. We were also able to re-connect with those we had met at Jens’ church, Little Brown Church in Bigfork. When we first met them, they were so open and lovingly accepted us. After about a month in Montana we said our goodbyes and returned to the Seattle area where we were able to spend more time with Nicole, as well as Brit, Shane, and family and a few other friends. After our whirlwind seven weeks in the U.S. we headed back to Uganda. It is amazing how seven weeks can be such a long time, but at the same time go by so quickly, not allowing enough time really spend time with people.

The next time we will be in the U.S. will be sometime in July of 2016. This will be our home assignment and will last about six months. It is during this time we really hope to be able to spend some quality time with those we were unable to connect with or only connected with briefly. It is also when we will have the time to share what is happening here in this little piece of Karamoja that our Lord has placed us in. While the workers here are few and the needs are great, we are continuing to see God’s hand in the spiritual affairs of Moroto District. We are trusting the Lord will bring others to join us beginning February of 2017. This will mark the official beginning of the Moroto Focus Team. Not only are we trusting He will bring others through AIM, but also through other mission organizations as well. Next week we are hosting a couple and their adopted Ugandan daughter. He is from the U.S. and she is Dutch.  They feel the Lord is leading them to leave where they are now in the Central part of Uganda and that they are to come to Karamoja. We are excited that God is laying Karamoja on others’ hearts. Also, if you or your church would like us to share with you when we are on furlough next year, please contact us.

So what has been going on since our return to Moroto? It’s not a bad question, so I thought I would ask it J.

Ready for Christmas

Since our return, we have hit the ground running. Immediately upon our arrival in Uganda, we spent a few days stocking up on some supplies in Kampala and then headed north to Karamoja. We choose to make it a two-day trip (its rare we don’t) since the one-day version is, well, torture is the word that comes to mind. It can be done, but with the condition of the roads having a full day for the last part of the drive is a good thing. We checked on the roads before leaving Kampala and learned (learnt for our British and Australian friends) that the road we normally take was completely blocked by large trucks stuck in the mud caused by the heavy rains that had just ended. Usually what happens is that when a truck gets stuck the next one that comes along figures that the mud must only be impassable where the stuck truck is. So they try to pass and then they get stuck. You get the picture. Pretty soon they are lined up like a blockade determined to not let anyone pass. This situation took us to our alternate route, which even when dry, has a section that would put most roll-a-coasters to shame. So we took it and enjoyed the ride, arriving home safe and sound. The first order of business was to replace the rear shocks, which had us looking like a dolphin or a whale breaching the water as we traversed the roll-a-coaster road. This necessitated us contacting a mechanic in Kampala and having him send up a pair of shocks, accompanied by another mechanic to replace them. I had planned on doing it myself, but if the shocks came up alone they may have made a detour somewhere along the way, never reaching Moroto. Since they came with a mechanic he might as well change them!

Our Christmas Tree

Next was Christmas, which was a wonderful time! We had another missionary couple (German) stay with us a few days. They live in a remote location in the north of Uganda, just on the edge of the Uganda Kenya border. In addition to them we had eleven other Ugandan friends join us. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and celebration of the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Having said that, this was no typical Christmas day. We began the day with a Christmas morning service at 7:00 am. Then we came home and I slaughtered the Christmas turkey that took two days to find. This might not be a big deal to those of you who grew up on farms and hunting, but I WAS a city boy. No longer. I am learning. Ingrid was already not feeling well. In fact, she had been sick since before our return to Uganda. She is now somehow feeling better, but fatigues easily. After I finished dressing the bird. Why do you dress when in reality you strip the poor thing of everything? I digress. Ingrid then stuffed the turkey with the pork sausage we had ground and spiced the day before. After everything

 Women prisoners and their children

was well on its way, she left. This is where it really gets exciting. Ingrid is involved with a ministry to the prisoners once a week. She joined a team from our church who was already there twice a week. So, she along with Rev. Raymond led Christmas services for the prisoners. At the end of the services five women and about 30 men gave their lives to the Lord. What is important about these numbers is two things. First of all this number represents about 15% of the prison population. Secondly, all these people had never raised their hands before to choose to follow Christ. Like I said earlier, we are continuing to see God’s hand in the spiritual affairs of Moroto District. Ingrid will now begin the task of meeting with these five new sisters in Christ once a week to disciple them and share God’s word. So while Ingrid’s time at the prison was spiritually exciting, she returned home exhausted, after diner had ended, but not regretting having missed a thing.

Youth Camp

Immediately following Christmas was the annual youth camp. While Church of Uganda planned the camp, youth from all denominations were invited, along with their respective leaders. The camp encompassed youth from throughout Karamoja and totaled around 300 campers. Reverend Raymond did a wonderful job of planning and bringing in speakers from outside of Karamoja as well as a couple of other speakers from Karamoja who sincerely love the Lord. The theme of the camp was “His Agenda, my purpose,” taken from Genesis 1:26-27. Each day there was a discussion group as well as a workshop. Both were broken down by different ages; I worked with those who were 21 and over. Ingrid came for two of the discussion groups, when the men and the women were separated, to lead the discussion on such topics as sexual purity, biblical womanhood versus what Karimojong culture says a woman should look like, and what it means to influence others for Christ or not. Mind you, Ingrid was still not feeling well at this time. In fact, she had just begun some antibiotics to help rid her of what was going on, but even so, she still came a couple more times, joined the leadership in praying individually for people for about one hour and stuck around a little after, just to be part of the group.

Praying for others

During the camp I led the discussion groups for the men as well as the running the workshops for the combined groups of 21 and over. For the discussion groups our topics were the same as the group that Ingrid was part of, but oriented towards men. For the workshops there were are variety of topics. All had to do with who we are in Christ and what that means as we live out our lives. In other words, my purpose in life should be God’s agenda for me. We worked our way through our identity in Christ, my culture versus Biblical culture, and managing our sexuality. We moved to what it would then look like to take Christ to the Karimojong people – how we can fulfill the Great Commission in this context – a generation that is struggling physically, economically, and spiritually. We worked on identifying what God has given us, instead of focusing on what we feel we don’t have. Finally everything was brought together to understand that all of this begins with personal holiness born out of a genuine relationship with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As the workshop attendees were given the task of outlining what mission would look like, from both a personal level and then a corporate level, that is the churches role, the responses of the workgroup were amazing. They looked at themselves and what responsibilities they had. They understood the difference between genuine relationship and religion. They discussed spiritual disciplines. They understood the need to suffer for Christ. Finally, they worked out potential ways to engage unbelievers. The last night was on suffering and God’s will. Really this is an inadequate summary.

Please be praying for this group of young people. Just like so many camps in the U.S. they will leave all pumped up, but then they will be faced with the reality of going back to a church that preaches religion or where some or many of the clergy may not even be saved. They will be facing discouragement and may end up with more questions about their faith as a result, with no one spiritually qualified to answer their questions.  But we know our Lord is everywhere and the Holy Spirit is our teacher, what a comfort.

It really strikes me how much the same the youth of Karamoja are to the youth in U.S. I think I got more out of working with them then they did out of the conference. People are people everywhere in the world. The common truth is, we all need Jesus.

Finally, we have a short-term missionary who will be joining us for the next 5½ months. He will be doing predominately youth work with the Church of Uganda.  This is part of an internship for his Bible College. Please be praying that we will support and lead him well so that he grows closer to the Lord and leaves with a clearer understanding of what cross-cultural mission looks like.

Thank you for enduring to the end of this post. Our last few months have been full of so many wonderful times and we are reminded that our hope is in Christ and our lives should be about Him. When we worship Him and live for Him, He chooses to use us for His purposes and in the process grows us more and more into mature sons and daughters. May all the glory go to our Father in Heaven.

Love you all and thank you so much for all the support you give us; spiritually, emotionally, in prayer, and in finances.

Lyle and Ingrid