Hello dear ones, from a continuing hot season in Uganda. January and February were melting hot, but even though it has decreased a bit in intensity, we are still wimping along from the unrelenting heat. We are grateful for an occasional rain, which cools temporarily but are looking for the rainy season to begin anytime.
The months are just rushing by so fast, as I thought about what to write, it made my head spin as I tried to mentally recap the past 4 months. Or maybe it was the effects of the heat or my sinuses screaming, ha-ha.
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| Nakiro in the white/black striped blouse |
We are so grateful for the team the Lord has given us. The joy of having eleven adults plus 5 children join our team is the multiplication effect it has on who can be reached and the increasing ability of relationships that can be deeply developed. Also, responsibilities can be shared which is a gift to Lyle and myself. Many people ask what a typical day is like, and that is very challenging to describe, as no matter what we have planned, including trying to have a day off a week, we hold our plans loosely. A typical example is, Nali, who helps around our house shows up at 8 am on a Monday, and shares with me that our friend Nakiru’s 8 year old daughter burned things up inside their home last night while holding a lit candle which accidentally started the fire. I didn’t know how badly the damage might be, but knew Nakiru doesn’t have any reserves to fall back on. She is a young widow with 4 children, whose husband was beaten and stoned to death for having food. I called my teammate Mary, who has language lessons with Nakiru and is her friend as well. Mary, who had tentatively organized her Monday, quickly changed things and headed to Nakiru’s place. She was able to let me know mostly only clothing was burned, but everything needed to be removed and cleaned. Mary stayed and helped Nakiru clean and I rounded up some clothes to try to replace a bit of what was lost. Here it is normal for young children to be left in charge of smaller ones, and this happened while Nakiru was selling produce in the market in the evening. I am amazed more things like this don’t happen when young ones are left to handle grownup things like fire. Our only consistencies in schedule are our ministry times in the bush, at prison and our team day and church. Even language lessons are not always consistent.
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| Family learning how to mold figures from clay. Mark is the instructor. |
Our daughter Monika and her husband Jens and their 4 children plus Shaela’s boyfriend Andrew visited us the end of March. We had been happy to have Shaela here a year ago in Dec.-Jan., 2018, but for the others it had been two and a half years since we had seen them. It was beyond words wonderful to be able for them to meet the people they have been praying for. Moe and Jens have prayed for my neighbor Napeyok for almost six years, and for them to meet her face-to-face was awesome. She was waiting for them, when we arrived home and we didn’t make it to our porch, she was so insistent on meeting them first thing. The joy in my heart for this was so deep. We drove up from Kampala, and it took 14 ½ hours for the journey, a long time for three little ones (9,7 and 3 yrs old) to be in the cars. They were real troopers. Coming from a few feet of snow in Montana to our heat really took a toll especially on the adults.
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| Soccer in Lotirir. |
So often in Moroto, I still feel like a stranger and am still struggling to figure out cultural things, but taking the family around really gave me a contrast. I realized that I have assimilated much more that I had perceived. I thought to myself, “I am more African than I ever thought I could be,” that was a great insight for me. I also realized how desensitized I have become to the overwhelming, never-ending with no answer in sight, problems, as Moe was continually pointing out wounds on the children in Lotirir. I applied more bandages during church with her there, then I had for a long time. The reason for that is, their skin is usually dirty and sweaty so the bandages fall off usually within minutes even when I clean the skin, and having horrible wounds is a daily part of life in the bush, which I have for the most part quit trying to address. The children love the attention, but when I came to realize that children were wounding themselves just to have me apply bandages, I knew I needed to stop unless things were very serious. The family got to play “futball” (soccer) with the kids in the bush and also here in town. They so enjoyed engaging with the people and Lyle and I were blessed and impressed with how readily all of them embraced the people and were open to trying new things and living in new ways. Even Cora, at 3 years old, acted like she had done this her whole life. What a gift to us this was. They were able to meet almost all of the children we have in school, and to play games and Frisbee with the boys of Moroto High. It was also hard for our family to witness the hunger of the people here, it is really overwhelming and they came at the time of no food for months, because of the dry season. Most of the people are skinny to skeletal. They really were able to get a slice of our life here. It was hard to say good-bye to them, but I was so grateful that I could say “see you in a few months,” since we will be going on furlough in July.
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| Out in Lotirir |
As we continue to be busy everyday, we are also trying to organize life here for when we are on furlough in the states. We will be gone for 6 months, so preparing for school fees to be paid ahead of time and all the materials our boys need during that time has to be planned for. We are buying extra dog food every trip down to Kampala (the only place to get it) to try to have enough to last for six months; getting enough payment on power and water for six months, etc. Please pray for our brains to not forget anything. We are also thinking about how we continue to serve and surrender to our Lord even though our location will be changing. I find it interesting that most missions call this time back in the sending country furlough, as the definition of furlough means: a period of time where a soldier is temporarily absent from service, especially to return to their home town or country. In the Lord, however, we feel that we are like Paul, in Colossians 2:5, that we are absent from the K’jong and our team in body, but with them in spirit. And as Christ followers, we are never absent from living a surrendered life to our Lord Jesus, doing what He leads us to do no matter where He calls us. We are looking forward to having a break from the culture we have been immersed in, and praying that these six months can rejuvenate us in ways beyond our imagination.
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| Family pic on an outing! Photo bombed by a giraffe. |
We will land in Seattle, WA on the 14thon July. We plan on being in that area till the first part of August. As of now, we have had a couple of kind offers of guestrooms in Western Washington, a couple of offers for use of cars for a period of time, one church even offered to create a living space for us in their annex, isn't that wonderful, but we are thinking that might not work the best if we need to walk outdoors to get to showers and to cook, but we are grateful that people are joining us seeking how the Lord will take care of us whilst in the states. We will be spending a good bit of time in Montana, and traveling some to visit children, relatives, and friends. We know that as children of the King, He will give us what is best for us, and we trust that. We would love to be able to connect with as many of you as possible. Please feel free to communicate with us, via email or Facebook or WhatsApp, to let us know when we could organize time together. God has used and is using all of you as life-giving love to us, and we are so grateful for this.
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| Cora being held in Lotirir |
Please join us in continuing to pray for the believers here in Moroto. When they understand the Bible and that following Christ is counter-cultural to what they have lived, they do end up being persecuted. We are seeing some of them growing stronger in their relationship with the Lord and others being very challenged and torn about how to live. Each of us must chose for ourselves.
We will be keeping our team in prayer whilst we are gone and would ask you to join with us, that integrity and faithfulness to our Lord and each other would be what is witnessed in these precious people who will continue to serve in Moroto District. When we come back, three of our teammates will leave for their furlough. And the rest are staying for various times. Looking forward to hugs and talks in person in the near future, Lord willing.
Love,
Ingrid and Lyle
