January 13, 2014

Greetings Everyone,

Lyle here. Happy New Year to all of you.

It has been a while since our last post and so many difficult things have taken place. The end of December our Ugandan grandson died and three days later Ingrid's brother, Gary, died. 

As many of you know, Ingrid traveled to the U.S. on December 15th to visit her brother who had suffered a series of strokes, which eventually left him alive, but non-responsive.

Gary at 37, died at 58

She had found out about his strokes from our daughter, Moe (Monika), just prior to Thanksgiving, but at that time he was still commincating with gestures and the hospital was looking to move him to a skilled nursing facility for rehab. Ingrid had been able to speak with Gary on the phone during this time and he was able to respond with a thumbs up, however his condition worsened and the overall plan changed from rehab to hospice. We had been actively seeking the Lord's guidance as to if or when Ingrid should travel, and at His leading, booked her for a trip leaving on December 15th, arriving back in Uganda on December 27th. Ingrid spent almost as much time traveling as she did with Gary and Moe. While she was there, there were only two times he was conscious. Once was when they moved him from the hospital to hospice (in and out of consciousness) and the second time was when Ingrid was sharing the Lord with Him. He stayed conscious the entire time. Gary's lifestyle was one that totally rejected Christ and he had not been open to the gospel. We thank the Lord that Ingrid was able to share with him. We do not know what transpired in Gary's heart during that time, but we know that our Lord is faithful to give an opportunity for repentance up to our last breath. Some of you may have known that Ingrid lost her sister to throat cancer and as she wrestled with how she had lived her life for herself instead of God,  Ingrid was able to share that it was never too late. As her sister, Monika, surrendered her life to Christ, years lifted off her face and she looked more youthful as she was dying of cancer then she had before. Her life was not longer the same and she spent her remaining days glorifying the Lord. Ingrid has taken great comfort in the privilege the Lord had given her to have the opportunity to share with both her sister and brother has their days on earth were ending and we also take comfort knowing that Moe had also taken time to share Christ and the Good News of forgiveness and redemption with her Uncle Gary.

Ingrid arrived back in Uganda on the 27th and on Saturday the 28th we left for a Central Region AIM conference and shortly after arriving learned that our 10 month old Ugandan grandson, Frank, had died. While Ingrid had been in the U.S. I had been talking with Ronald and his wife, Rebakah (pronounced Rebecca). Their son had been very sick since the 26th of December, most probably from cerebral malaria. I was also passing information on to others in the U.S., so that they would be praying as well. As a little history, we had met Ronald and Rebakah while we were at New Hope Uganda, the beginning of 2013. We spent five months with them and were there when Frank was born, a beautiful gift from the Lord. Please keep them in your prayers. 

Ronald, Rebakah, and Frank

We drove them to the hospital with Rebekah in labor, and drove them home with this precious gift, their first child. We were there with them as they struggled wondering if he had some physical defects in his legs and we were with them as they rejoiced that he did not. After returning to the States, to go full time with African Inland Missions, we stayed in contact with them. When we retuned to Uganda we went to New Hope to visit them. The joy they had in Frank was amazing. They were young parents and like I said, Frank was their first child. So when Ronald called me Saturday afternoon and said, "Uncle, my son has died," my heart dropped. I could hear the pain and disbelief in his voice. He had been so hopeful he would recover.

Ronald and Frank

As I told Ingrid we both were so full of grieve and sorrow. Our leaders at AIM gave us permission to leave the conference and attend the burial the next day, Sunday. Some of you may have experienced these feelings, and if you have, I am so sorry. There is really no way to describe how one feels welcoming a new life into the world and then ten short months later kneeling by a lifeless body. Rebakah was completely overcome with grief and Ronald was doing his best to keep things together, but you could see and feel his deep pain.

It was just two days after Frank's burial that Moe told us Gary had died. While expected, it was not anticipated it would be so quickly. As I mention this, please pray for Moe, as she has been the one who has been dealing with all of this, taking on the responsibly of being the court appointed guardian of Gary and is now the executor of his estate. She is doing this in addition to her being a wife, a mother, and working full time. If you know Moe, you will know that she is giving 100% to all of these things.

As for me, while Ingrid was gone I felt really alone. I know I should not have, but I did. I found myself counting the days waiting for her return and cooking Christmas dinner just seemed empty. I had invited some two Ugandan friends over for dinner and the compound manager where we were staying also came. Once dinner and conversation started I really did enjoy the time we had together and the emptiness was gone, but I wonder what I missed out on, what relationship could have happened at other times, if I had not been feeling sorry for myself, been self-absorbed and just filling my time waiting for Ingrid to return. While it is natural to miss her deeply, my sufficiency needs to be fully in the Lord. This is an area the Lord is continuing to grow me in. 

Shortly after the conference was over we traveled to Karamoja to look for housing. We knew housing that fit the budget would be difficult, but there was not anything even close, so finding long term housing did not happen, but the relationships we made or followed up on were incredible. The purpose of the trip, in our minds had been about housing, but God may have planned relationships as the primary purpose all along. We met so many people and received so much excellent advise. We followed up with Bishop Joseph, the Bishop of southern Karamoja for Church of Uganda. We enjoyed our time with with Pastor Noah and  met an 83 year old gentleman from Texas, Bill, who is heavily involved in working with orphans in Moroto.

Us and Pastor Noah

Us with Bill (in back) and the boys

We met with some CLIDE (veterinary medicine) missionaries, Dr. Valerie and her husband Waffle, as well as a new member of their team, Emily. We met Canon Isaiah, who is retired from the Church of Uganda.

Canon Isaiah with us and Linda Byler

We met many people in the local government who will be very important in future ministry as they are responsible for approving our activities to ensure they compliment, not duplicate, what others are doing. All in all we saw God's hand throughout the entire trip. We were able to find temporary housing, a self-contained unit, which is a rectangular room with a bathroom in one corner, a stove and a small fridge in the other, and of course a bed. I am guessing it would be about 15' x 20' overall. The gentleman, Israel, who owns the hotel we will be at is a Christian and a builder and would love to build us something to rent, but as of right now the amount AIM can pay and what he needs are not close together. Even if this were never to work out we are so looking forward to getting to know him better. He seems to have a wonderful gentle spirit about him. Where we will stay in the long run, the Lord knows, but in the short term we know this is exactly where God wants us and we are so excited to get there. 

As we have been missing spending time with our Indian friends and extended family who are working and living in the U.S., God has given us a young Indian man as a neighbor who is doing volunteer work in Moroto. He is as excited to get to know us as we are to know him.

Us and Israel

I am writing this blog entry from Nairobi, Kenya as we begin our three weeks of Africa Based Orientation with AIM, so you can see we have been busy with much traveling, especially Ingrid. Please pray for us regarding long term housing in Moroto, but more importantly, that when we move there in mid February, that we will continue to build relationships and that our lives glorify our Lord. 

So while this time has been filled with tragedy, it has also been filled with joy and expectations of where the Lord is taking us. We know that God is faithful and He will see us through all of this. As we follow Him we know hard times will come. The Bible tells us this, but we also know that as we walk in His will we will experience His peace and that He will continue to direct our paths. So it is with confidence, not in ourselves, but in our Lord that we move knowing that what the enemy would like to use discourage us, our Lord will use to build His kingdom.

Love,

Lyle and Ingrid

December 8, 2013

Our greetings to our friends all over the world! Ingrid here :-)

We are finally at a place in our schedule to have a couple of days to process and contemplate the last couple of weeks and to put some of those thoughts down to share with you where our hearts are right now.

Transition seems to be the continuing theme of our lives right now.  We have been given the gift of loving Christians opening their homes to us while we are stationed in Kampala.  We spent our first 3 weeks here with a wonderful couple who originate from Pennsylvania. Two weeks ago, we moved into a home that was vacated with the couple returning to the USA for the holidays. We spent one night there and then headed up to New Hope Uganda to reconnect with family and friends there before they scattered to their home villages for the two month holiday that is traditional here in Uganda. Then we headed up to Karamoja with a group of short term missionaries and one long term missionary, Julie, who has become a great friend to us.  We picked up a young man we had become friends with at NHU, who wanted to see Karamoja and has an interest in joining us someday in ministry there.  So as a group of 8 we slowly made our way north in two vehicles.

Thanksgiving was overlooking the Nile River

The trip I feel was characterized by the word hospitality.  We were given hospitality and accommodations the first night by a missionary couple with AIM in Jinja.  Lyle, Julie, and I were able to attend a Thanksgiving feast on the Nile, put on by another missionary organization.  It was so kind of them to include us and we three gave an impromptu performance to break up the awkwardness of the MC asking for skits.  After seeing our effort, the consensus was that anyone could sing or do a skit. So there were several others that entertained after us.

After the town of Jinja, we spent the next night, north of Mbale, in the home of a Bishop in the Church of Uganda.  The kindness and generosity shown to strangers was very touching and blessed us so much. They had met Julie before and she was going to do a training for Sunday School teachers about opening up Sunday School classes to special needs children. They accomodated all 8 of us very graciously. The following morning we were escorted to the church where we each had a part in the presentation of how and why special needs children should be included in Sunday School and how that could be possible in their churches.  It was a full day with the teachers wanting all the training before having any mid-day food because we had a huge rain storm and many of them were concerned about their long walks home in the bad weather.  So while the day was long, the receptivity to our message was very encouraging.

Sisiye Falls in the background

Great place for quiet time with our Lord

Late that afternoon we left the Bishop's home and headed to Sisiye Falls to sleep in tents at the foot of the falls.  It was a wonderful setting to process the day and the wonders of a God Who makes no mistakes; that all His people are how He desires them to enter the world. Whether we have disabilities that are noticeable or whether they are hidden in our spirits, we all have special needs.

We left the next day to head to another missionary's home in southern Karamoja.  We met them on the road as they had picked up their children from boarding school in Kenya and we were going to caravan up to their home together.  We met and greeted and Lyle and I smelled something hot in our car, and when Lyle shut the car off, it would not start again and the windows wouldn't work!  So Lyle and Bob, the missionary, got under the hood and started problem solving.  In Uganda, the norm is that anything one is doing outside is an invitation for a large audience to gather and watch and comment on the proceedings.  Needless to say we had a large audience as the "mechanics" tried to figure out what had happened.  The air conditioner melted and blew a fuse in the process, which is why the starter and the windows quit working.  This model comes with spare fuses!!! yeaaaaa   So a new one was put in and off we went, with natural air conditioning, windows down.  The breeze was great, but the dust was tough. To reach these people's home, we had to go through a game preserve, and I guess part to the preservation is no upkeep on the roads.  I thought we were on a roller coaster for hours, with driving through water to the top of the tires and trying to avoid deep pits and mud was our reality.  So this family who had just gotten their children, opened their home to us for the night and we had a great time of fellowship there.

Young Karamojong warrior herding some of his cows

When the taxi is full, use the roof

We set out the next day for Kangole (it is sort of pronounced like Canole) which is about 20 minutes from Moroto.  We crossed 3 large streams in the process; the road just stops at the water's edge and starts up on the other side.  On one of them, Julie got out and wadded through it to make sure there were no surprises before we drove through.  Our new normal. We reached our destination and met Mama Esther, the wife of the minster of this church, which is part of the Church of Uganda.  We were graciously received here and spend 3 nights on their compound.  We spent two of our days meeting with special needs families in Kangole, and one day in Moroto.  While in Moroto we were able to meet with the Bishop of southern Karamoja. The Mbale Bishop had passed on to us his phone information as they are very good friends, and Lyle and I really connected with the Mbale Bishop and his wife.

Shallow water crossing

We did not know what to expect when we met with the Bishop in Moroto.  The Church of Uganda is Anglican and apparently each District might have a bit of a different philosophy.  This Bishop, after conversing for a little while, apparently felt comfortable enough to share his heart for the Karamajong people and a bit of cultural history.  The first missionaries to Karamoja were Catholic and they engaged the Karamajong people by giving them things to lesson the ferocity of the tribe.  The Bishop says that from that time on, his people have taken an attitude of wanting a hand out and that the spirit of poverty has blinded them.  It has not helped that the world humanitarian agencies have been affirming that same mindset for at least 40 years in Karamoja.  So there are many generations of people who feel that begging is their source of interaction with those who seem to have resources.  The Bishop experiences this as well.  We felt so much a similar philosophy with him and he was very open to our desire for discipleship.  We have heard from him by email since our meeting and he will be extending an invitation to us to join all the ministers and their wives for a 5 day conference in Moroto in mid-February.  That should be our first full week up there full time, so we are encouraged and amazed at how God is already orchestrating us getting to know brothers and sisters in Christ in our new home.  We also were able to meet with a young Pastor we had met last year while visiting Moroto.  He is excited for us to come up and we were able to meet his fiancee.  He has a home for orphan boys and when we went there to try to find him, one of the boys remembered me and threw his arms around me in greeting.  I am excited to be able to get to know these precious boys better.  There are 10 of them ranging in age of 3 years old to high teens.

Hand crafted lorry made with scrap cardboard and sap as glue

We were able to use our Karamajong language lots while we were there and even added some words to our limited vocabulary.  Mama Esther told Julie that her "elder" friends were going to do well in Karamoja because we were willing to try the language.  I believe she is right.  The people were so willing to help us and correct us gently.  It was great.

It was hard to climb in the car and leave, we were both so excited to have a glimpse of what our future holds.  We were able to look at several places with self contained units, bedroom/bath. So hopefully we will find an opening when we finally make the move mid-February.  We continue to feel that we are to remain open-minded for how and what God wants us to do initially, so we are not forming any plans or agendas; that I think is the toughest thing. In my quiet time today, God reminded me that Jesus walked that same way while on earth in a human body.  In 1 Peter 2:21 He tells us: For God called you to do good even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you.  He is your example and you must follow in His steps.  I felt the Holy Spirit open my eyes to the reality that Jesus had a home, he had routine and knew where he was going to sleep at night and where his food was coming from for 30 years.  And then, God told him to leave all that and live doing only what the Father told Him to do without routine or known agenda.  So my dearest Lord Jesus knows what we are living and while it might not fit the definition of suffering, it is definitely tough to do day after day, month after month, all the while watching our heavenly Father provide the best accommodations for us day after day, month after month.  And so we patiently wait, and live for Him alone each moment as best we can, until He makes clear His purpose for us in Moroto.

Listening to the Bible in Karamojong on the Proclaimer

For each of you who have prayed for us, we sincerely thank you!! Your love and support are rich in our souls and spirits.  We feel the body of Christ, both here in Uganda and around the world, loving us and supporting us as we endeavor to serve our Lord and spend ourselves where He has called us.

As we approach the time of year, that Christians around the world reflect on the timeless, priceless gift of Jesus Christ coming into the world to be our sacrifice Lamb Slain before the beginning of time, for our sins, to set us free from the power of sin, may He truly be our treasure - Him alone.

Our deepest love to you all.

Ingrid and Lyle

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