November 13, 2013

Hello Everyone...

Greetings from Uganda!

View from where we are staying for now

Much has been going on since our last post a couple of weeks ago. I am excited to say that we have found a language teacher, well actually two of them.  One of them is a young man from Karamoja who was on the streets of Kampala, but was taken in by an organization called Dwelling Places, who rescues children from the street and brings them into a group environment where they receive love, medical attention, education, and biblical teaching. The other young man has an equally tramatic background and is now in University. God's goodness is so great! Listening to the story of these two young men touched me deeply as I heard of God's transformation in their lives. The ultimate goal of Dwelling Places is to locate the families of the children in their care and  repatriated them. A large proportion of these children come from Karamoja. We were able to spend a little time with them after meeting the staff of Dwelling Places and visiting the facilities. We went into a classroom where they were singing songs and learning about our Lord. After a few songs and some interaction between the teacher and the students we were asked to introduce ourselves. When the children learned that we would eventually be moving to Moroto in Karamoja they reacted with such joy and enthusiasm one would have thought they had just won a million dollars. I can never know for sure why the thought of us moving to Moroto brought such a visceral delight, but I can guess it brought them joy to know that someone cared enough to go where so few have gone. It brings me joy to know they are so excited!

Below are a couple of photos's from Dwelling Places. Notice the picture of the little boy on the left. Ingrid was told that he only began smiling just two weeks ago. Now notice the same little boy in the picture to the left. What a difference a smile makes. As Dwelling Places invests into these precious lives the changes are noticeable! As these children are repatriated back with their families in Karamoja they may be some of the same children we interact with!

This touches me so much and is a wonderful example of how the entire body of Christ works together. A book that we are reading, "The Church Is Bigger Than You Think," puts it this way, "Missions involves the whole body of Christ to evangelize the world." What we are already experiencing is that the missions community is not that large and there are cooperative efforts taking place. Each of these missionaries has supporters behind them as do the organizations. Think about this. People from so many different parts of the world, gathered in Uganda, working together, supported by people from all over the world. Uganda is just one county, yet this paints such a beautiful picture of global missions and the body Christ. Thank you so much for being part of this global community! I cannot fully express how humbling it is and well lifted up and supported I feel by each of you.

Left to Right: Imam, Milko, Ingrid, Loti

Many of you may of heard of us speak of our friend Imam and his two little girls, Milko and Loti, who we would visit when we were in Nairobi. At only 35 years of age, after a very brief battle with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Imam has gone home to be with the Lord, leaving his two little girls to live with their muslim mother. We will miss Imam very much. When we go Kenya in January/February our leadership at AIM has given us a few extra days to try to connect with Milko and Loti. Please be praying for us through this process that we will accomplish what the Lord desires. Please pray as well for Milko and Loti. I cannot imagine what they are going through and what they are feeling. I hurt for them and feel helpless to do anything. We do not understand everything that has happened, but even in the midst of this tragedy we can see our Lord's hand. Not long ago, Imam's ex-wife, who had left Imam to marry a muslim man, abandoning her girls in the process, took Imam to court to get visitation rights. So for a time now the girls have been with their mother on weekends and during school breaks. Now they will be with her full time. Why would the Lord call Imam home? Why would He have the girls with their muslim mother? We do not know these answers, but we do know that our God is sovereign and that He will be glorified through this! We also know that He has promised that this will all work together for the good of "those who love Him". This is what brings me comfort. Also, please pray for Imam's ex-wife. We do not know her name, but she used to profess to be a Christian. I do not know how genuine her faith was, but I suspect it was not, otherwise she would not have done what she did, but she has heard the Gospel. Please pray that God will use all of this in her life to bring her to repentance and into a forgiving, wonderful and secure relationship with the One who can make all things new, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Most of you have heard that we purchased a vehicle! God is so good in providing the right car for the right situation. Things work a little slower here in Uganda, but the car should be in our possession by Wednesday of next week. From there it goes to the mechanics for a thorough check over and any necessary repairs. After a new set of tires that are better suited for Karamoja, the addition of a winch, and a good roof rack we should be ready to go. Please keep this process in prayer as things can move a little slow here.

We also wanted to pass on a great website that is sponsored by AIM. It is called Pray Africa. Here is the link: prayafrica.org. At this website you will find all the different people groups AIM is praying for. If you look on the right and look scroll down a bit you will find a heading labeled "Under Evangelized." Karamoja is listed under this heading. As of right now there are no postings because AIM is not present in the region on a full time basis. Once Ingrid and I are there we will be doing the postings for Karamoja.

Lastly, Ingrid was able to attend a birthday party for the son of one of the staff that works at Matoke. Here are a couple of photos of the festivities! Look closely in the right hand of Elijah in the photo on the left. Notice the car in his right hand? Brayden, one of our grandsons was so touched by the stories of the children in Africa and how little they had, he went on his own initiative and selected several of his cars, some of his favorite clothes, and emptied one of his piggy banks, stating: "Please give these to children in Africa Grammie, it's OK, I have so much." With the permission his parents, Shane and Britney, we brought these gifts to Uganda with us to give away to others on behalf of Brayden, who is six years old. Ingrid said Elijah was so very very excited to have received that car. The last photo is just a picture of the children playing at the party, but it gives a fair idea of how others live. There is a lean-to behind the children which is the kitchen. This is very typical of how most Ugandans live. Even though they may live in a cement structure, they go to a well to get their water (notice the yellow plastic can in the left of the picture) and carry it to their home. The kitchen is outside as is the toilet, which is called a pit latrine. A pit latrine is simply a hole in the ground with some walls around it.

Well, I think that is all for now. Thanking all of you for all of your support and your willingness to continue lifting us up in prayer! Each and every one of you is part of this ministry and we cannot express enough how much we value each and every one of you and how loved you make us feel. 

Love,

Lyle and Ingrid

November 4, 2013

Back in Uganda!!

Our lives are being lived with a very interesting perspective at this point in our existence these days.  We come from family on one side of the world and we go to family on the other side of the world. We have family regardless of which side of the world we are in. 

Those who made July 4th family reunion 

This is such a wonderful reality for me. Since arriving back in Kampala, we have been asked if we feel like we are back home or if we feel like we left home.  Neither Lyle or I could give a definitive answer to this as we certainly do not feel like this world is our home.  Some of that may come from having no where to put roots down for the last year and a half, no matter where in the world we have resided.  But I find it comforting and so like our God's plan, for us to know we have family wherever we are, even if there is no home. 

Our biological family back in the states as well as our family in Christ treated us royally; and upon our return here, our Ugandan family here greeted us with jubilation. 

Sharing at Redmond Assembly of God

From the boda boda drivers at the local staging area, when our taxi drove by, to the Matoke Inn staff running out screaming greetings, our return was a warm, fuzzy one, which brings us great joy. Even the compound dogs remembered us and jumped into our arms. Since our arrival, we have been staying at a residence that borders the Inn compound. The dogs hear our voices and start howling for us and one of them has escaped to try to get us. Even the staff at the local grocery market greeted us warmly as we had developed good relations with them over the last year. Many of them remarked, "You were lost, welcome home." 

God had laid on my heart to review my memory verses from the Bible for the last year, and this one leapt out as His heart for Lyle and me no matter where He places us, no matter how long we are there.  It is 1 Thessalonians 2:8: "We love you so much we shared with you not only God's Good News, but our lives as well." There is no richer way I can think of living than truly doing life with the people God places in my path.  I want to thank you for willingly doing life with me and for allowing Lyle and me into your lives and hearts; through the good and the tough times.  We treasure these relationships so much.

Our immediate future has some order to it. We will mainly be in Kampala until we leave for AIM's African Based Orientation in Machakos, Kenya in mid January. God has provided us with three homes to stay in while we are here, we are grateful to know ahead of time where we will be laying our heads, grin!!! During that time we will be traveling up to Karamoja with a fellow missionary for about two weeks, and hopefully during that time will get a better idea of where we might start our stay in Moroto. We will also head up there right before we leave for Kenya in January, Lord willing.  AIM has a conference all the Central Region missionaries attend the end of December and we will be attending that as well. So we really have a full plate already in addition to looking to buy a vehicle that can take the Karamajong roads.  We spoke with a Dr. well acquainted with the roads to Moroto, and apparently the wet season was so wet last year that buses were stuck for 3 months on the way to Moroto.  Hopefully we don't encounter that in late November.

I am currently reading a book given to us by a dear brother in Christ from our home church in Frenchtown, MT, called "Kisses from Katie".  She has written a lot of things that my heart has really knit with, because it is what God has spoken to me as well. She just does a much better job of putting it into words.  In one place she writes: "Jesus called His followers to be a lot of things, but I have yet to find where He warned us to be safe.  We are not called to be safe, we are simply promised that when we are in danger, God is right there with us.  And there is no better place to be than in His hands." Since coming here, we have had one veteran missionary call us crazy for planning to go to Moroto. Of course he has been called crazy as well for where the Lord has taken him.  But I truly do believe that the safest place for me to be is surrendered to His leading in my life, no matter where it takes me, because Jesus is worth all of my life for what He has done for me.

Our prayer requests would be that God would lead us to the right Ugandan who also has God's heart for the Karamajong people; for guiding us to the right language teacher, and the right vehicle. We desire to have our hearts beat with Jesus' heart and His eyes to see no matter our circumstances; so we do not ask you to pray for smoothness in our circumstances and times, but that we would see as God sees and love with His love and above all TRUST Him in all things, knowing that He is in control of all things.

Our love to each one of you,

Ingrid & Lyle

September 6, 2013

GREETINGS

Wow... Its only been just over two weeks since our last post and things are moving along very quickly!

First of all - African Inland Missions has officially confirmed that our receiving country is Uganda and that our assignment will be in Karamoja. We will be the team leaders for a Curriculum Based Team, but to begin with our first responsibilities will be learning the Karamojong language and having the privilege of getting to know people and "do life" with them. Later, as needs are identified, other team members will come and we will all be serving and learning together.

Secondly, as you know from our last post, we had not expected the need to raise any support so we had not included time for support raising (see blog from August 22).  We also had a cutoff date of September 4th. Through this time, the encouragement and love we have received has been so uplifting and humbling. We continually see our Lord's hand of provision for us expressed through those of you who have heard and answered His call to partner with us in Uganda. 

Thank You!

So here is an update as to where things are at...

Even though September 4th has come and gone, there is still time left for us to meet the target set by AIM. The 4th was a date that allowed AIM plenty of time to process paper work and make travel arrangements, but I learned it was not an absolute deadline. We have been given about another week or so before we run out of time because of the quick response we have had so far. 

If we are to travel back to Africa the beginning of October we still have $716 in support to raise. This means that in just two weeks a little over 40% of our monthly support has come in. I don't know about you, but I find that amazing! Our time here in the States had already been planned out to be with family and friends, attend candidate week with AIM, as well as attend a school in North Carolina called, Missionary Medical Intensive. No time was planned to do "support raising" and yet a little over 40% of our needed support has been pledged! 

If you have not already prayed about being part of the journey God is leading us into, please pray about joining us. We can never have too much prayer support and the financial goal is shrinking almost daily! 

Here is a link to a pledge card that can be completed (you will need to save it first) to join us in committing to support us in prayer and/or financially. It can then be returned to us by email. We value your partnership in whatever capacity the Lord leads you!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pn9rfp4csr8hrl6/pledgeCardFillIn.doc

Thank you again for all your support!

Love,

Lyle & Ingrid 

wlathrop128@gmail.com

idlathrop1@gmail.com

August 22, 2013

PRAISE GOD! 

This was our first thought when we received the official invitation to be part of African Inland Missions. Our journey began in 2011 and then continued when in 2012 we returned to Africa, first with AIM as the guesthouse managers in Kampala and then during our time with New Hope Uganda.  Our visit to Karamoja in North East Uganda while with AIM firmly planted the desire to serve in Karamoja in our hearts and the Holy Spirit continued to confirm this over and over.

The Details...

As many of you know, our desire was to be self supported financially, while raising prayer support before returning to Africa. One of the reasons we desired to return to Uganda with AIM was because of their wisdom and experience. While attending Candidate Week we learned that we are required to raise some support. We really see AIM’s wisdom in asking we have partners not only in prayer, but also financially.  Our desire is that those who support us are not just sending money, but really are part of what we are doing; that all of us are investing together in Karamoja, Uganda.

We are all living stones being built together as the Lord’s church and He has called each of us for His purpose. Please pray to God as to whether the Lord would have you partnering together with us in being the Light of Christ in Uganda.

OUR SUPPORT AND DEPARTURE

We are aiming to return to Africa to attend AIM’s Africa Bound Orientation in Nairobi, Kenya beginning October 6th.  In order to attend we need to have 100% of our monthly support pledged by September 4^th. 

Current Support Level: $1,386

Monthly Support Costs: $2,594

 Monthly Need Remaining: $1,208 

OTHER SUPPORT

In addition to monthly expenses there are other expenses that we will or have already incurred. Please pray whether the Lord would have you support us in any of these other areas:

Travel expenses, Orientation costs, Expenses in setting up new home in Uganda, etc.: $17,760

Cost of used vehicle in Uganda: $24,390

Total Other Support: $42,150

(These are costs projected by AIM)

…want to be a supporter?

As God leads, please prayerfully consider joining our team (either in prayer and/or financially) then let us know.

AIM’s mission statement is “Christ Centered Churches Among All African Peoples”, which so clearly reflects our hearts as well.

Every pledge counts towards our goal even if you cannot begin immediately.

Lyle & Ingrid Lathrop  

Lyle: wlathrop128@gmail.com 

424-698-7419 

Ingrid: idlathrop1@gmail.com 

425-698-7409)

If the Lord leads you to support us in any way, please contact myself or Ingrid so that we can forward you a pledge card that can be completed and returned via email.