September 20, 2014

Greetings once again to you from Moroto, Uganda!!  Ingrid here…

We are back settled into our room with all our belongings. Lyle says that we are living in a storage space but we hope that we can joyfully live each day for our Lord no matter where we are living.

We had what seemed like a whirlwind trip to the States as we hopped from daughter to daughter from the East coast of Florida to the West Coast of Washington.  We are very grateful for this unexpected gift of getting time with all those we love much sooner than we had prepared for when we said good-bye to everyone last year.  It was wonderful to worship with the parts of the body that we know as family and to be so loved and encouraged.  I have to say that I really needed this time. 

Presenting at Redmond Assembly of God w/Pastor Robroy

This time away from Moroto was helpful to me to get a sense of what my struggles have been in Karamoja.  I realized after returning to Uganda, while still in the central region of the country, that I was struggling with returning to living in the pain of watching a people group day in and day out struggle and try to survive as best they know how, while rejecting the attempts of help that both the spiritual community and the humanitarian community attempt to offer.  Through this realization a new facet of Romans 8:17 was revealed to me.  It says: “…and since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.  But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.”  I have prayed that I would share in Christ’s suffering and have always thought of this as physical suffering, but what suffering in His heart must Jesus have felt when He gave up the privilege of heaven to come down here and walk this sod with the people He created, who refused the only way of life that doesn’t destroy the soul as well as the body.

Lyle & Ps. Noah near Lokerete

In understanding this truth, the Holy Spirit comforted my heart.  I have the honor and privilege to witness, to pray for, and to shine the Love of Christ into the people here and I praise the living God for this.  We have been here 5 days and I was given a profound opportunity to live this, instead of running inside and curling up and pretending that the reality here isn’t real.  I hope that makes sense. 

We have a street boy we are trying to place in school, and he hadn’t shown up when we had agreed to meet.  We found out that he had been very ill with malaria.  He showed up today with his very frail grandmother and we met her and waited for our friend Pastor Noah to come and interpret and advise us on how to proceed.  As we waited, with little Daniel between his grandmother, and me, he nudged me and moved his head down to the ground.  As I followed his movements, my eyes fell on his grandmother’s feet.  Her right foot was missing the little toe completely, and the 4^th toe was bloody and about half gone.  I knew that Daniel wanted me to treat her foot, as I have treated his tropical ulcers many times since arriving.  I believe, and Pastor Noah agrees that it probably is leprosy.  The grandmother says that when she gets drunk and falls unconscious the rats eat her toes.  The other foot looks like this one in missing toes, but not bloody.  So I gloved up and cleaned up her wounds and after talking about Daniel and getting some history on him, we gave her and little Daniel a ride to the outpatient hospital, for both of them to get treatment as Daniel was running a high fever as well.  We bought them books to have medical notes written in, as they cannot go without these. 

Children at Daniel's village

The grandmother gave her permission for Daniel to move into Pastor Noah’s home, as he lives on the street, as she cannot provide for him.  His mother is around with a new husband and baby; Daniel’s dad is in prison for murder. Daniel doesn’t live with the mother, but we decided with Pastor Noah to visit her anyway and see if she was willing to have him leave the environment of this slum and move into a stable home.  When we got to the village, and found the place the mother is staying, about 20 very small children, desiring to shake hands with us, greeted us.  They wanted to touch my newly washed hair with their very dirty hands J.  As we were led back to the opening where the mother was, my heart was deeply moved by how much our Lord Jesus loves each one of these children, smiling and wanting attention from Lyle and me.  As Pastor Noah spoke with the mother, I kept feeling tugs on my hair as I got “petted.”  She also agreed for Daniel to go to the home.  We now have to get the approval of the Local Council for that area.

As we left, I told Daniel’s mama I would be praying for her, and my heart was so full of pain and I had to blink back the tears of how these people so precious to God live. 

Please, Please pray for us and for the Karimojong people. I am reading a book and it said something I really felt touched by, that we as praying Christ followers can expect the hardest places to have the most amazing results.  Prayer is truly the weapon needed here to change hearts and transform minds. Only God can do this and He has called us to join with Him in loving and transforming and setting free people who feel there is no hope, eternally or now.  Prayer takes the spiritual battle out of our hands and puts it into God’s hands, and when we in holiness of the truth of what Jesus has done for us, bend the knees in prayer, God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

Peaceful spot outside of Moroto

This is really what is on my heart, thank you for joining us in serving the Lord here in Karamoja.  Many have asked about our living accommodations and they are still in process.  The newest date we have been given to move into our home is October 15^th.   So we are determining to live each day surrendered to the Lord’s will and let Him chose our move in date.  May He be greatly honored through each part of each day of our lives.

Love, 

Ingrid and Lyle

June 25, 2014

Hello once again from Moroto, Ingrid here! 

Our house is progressing!

This will be our last blog post from Moroto for a couple of months.  In a week we will travel to Kampala to attend a workshop and then board a plane to fly back to the USA to greet a new grandson, Joshua Patrick, in Florida.  Needless to say we are very excited and are getting to exercise extra discipline staying present here and continuing to learn and grow.  Sometimes it is hard to continue to force my brain to try to learn another sound or word that is very foreign to me, and to not focus on looking forward to a time where every situation doesn’t have to be carefully processed culturally, which conflicts with my present day reality.  In the four months since we have settled into Moroto, we feel we have learned so much culturally and language wise, and yet I was just reminded this week that I know very little and really need to keep my learners mind foremost in my thoughts.  I am thinking that this will be a good philosophy even back in the states as I am not returning the same and things back there have not remained the same either. 

Lyle and Peter (building engineer) standing on front porch

I have had the last five days with lots of time to ponder things as I developed what I thought at first was a strip of sunburn on my neck (it would have been my first) about Tuesday of last week. I then drove and the seatbelt stretched over this very painful area and rubbed it.  I am very good at ignoring this kind of discomfort so I just let it rub, silly girl that I am. By Tuesday evening it was very much hard to ignore and by Wednesday others were commenting on my red strip.  I thought then maybe I had been bitten, as there were several red welts along with an open one from the seat belt dance. Wednesday night I knew I had better start some medicine as this was rapidly crossing my windpipe and also going up my jaw.  Needless to say by Thursday I was very sick and had a fever, was diagnosed with either contact dermatitis or cellulitis.  I could not believe that such a small seemingly superficial thing could make me so ill, but ill I was until today.  I was forced by my non-functioning body to lie in bed, sleeping day and night a lot and not being able to really function even for critical thinking. 

School room being used for church

My wonderful husband was very much tenderly taking care of me, taking my place in driving to the manyattas on Sunday for church, and over all being very protective.  I am so grateful for his love and the servant’s heart he demonstrated to me and to all those who watch our every action. 

God has taken me to James 5:7-8: Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.  Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.  You, too, must be patient.  Take courage for the coming of the Lord is very near.  He reminds me that He is also patiently waiting for the harvest in Karamoja and He alone knows when the rains will fall and the grain will ripen.  It is such a comfort to rest in the merciful, patient hands of my Lord as I live for Him here in a land where I am not sure about anything.

The Lord has opened the door a crack for Lyle in his desire to see the police and the prison staffs have a chance to know the Lord better or learn who He is through Bible study.  A Pastor and he were able to meet with the administration of the police force here and have been invited back to meet with staff at times set up for people to come together for unofficial business.  We are hoping that this will be sustained while we are gone so that when we come back, Lyle can just join an ongoing fellowship.  We have both been given wonderful opportunities to grow in relationship with some of the Karimojong people the Lord has allowed us to know.  We are really growing to understand that bridges of trust and true character take time and must be in place if what one says is to be received.  We want to be able to deeply know our new friends and to receive what they say to us and pray that this will be reciprocated.    We have also been encouraged to hear a couple of young adults lead church in the manyattas with very sound Biblical messages.  These are not pastors, but just young people wanting those in the bush to know that God sees them and hears them and loves them.  These glimmers of God’s goodness are so wonderful to us.

We were given the opportunity to meet several Ministers of Parliament (like our U.S. Congress) who came up on a weekend to Moroto.  They were with the Ministry of Education and were here to see education in action with a surprise visit.  Since they came on a weekend they didn’t get to see much in the form of education, but we were able to share our hearts regarding the gap in aide to street children.  They seemed surprised that no NGO is addressing this need, and we were happy to share with them the little we knew.  We drove them around and some of our street boys crowded the car and they saw first hand some of the challenges these precious souls struggle to survive in.  We are praying that the Lord will touch one or two hearts out of these politicians and that somehow advocacy for these, “the least of these,” children can be formed. 

Peter is holding "First Writing Book"

Our boys that are attending school are doing well.  Peter has blended well with the other boys at Pastor Noah’s.  We put two boys in boarding school so that they would not be on the street. They are settling in well once Lyle and Pastor Noah and I had a talk with them.  They had been in school about two weeks when I was notified by a teacher that they were beating up the other children L.  They had been disciplined by the school but were still responding to teasing and meanness with their fists.  How does one leave the street out of the boy when that is all the boy knows?  The Lord laid on Lyle’s heart that he needed to share some of his personal testimony with them, and we wanted them to know the consequences of            their actions if they did not stop. So we met them at Pastor Noah’s and he interpreted for us.  You should have seen their eyes as Lyle shared that he had been a liar, a thief, etc. and how he couldn’t change this behavior on his own even when he wanted to.  He really shared from his heart how only Jesus was able to give him the strength to change and that Jesus would do the same for them if they wanted.  We made sure they knew that the school would kick them out if they continued with fighting, and that if they fought they were choosing not to be in school.  We also made it clear that each one had his own choice to make and while one might choose to fight and get kicked out it didn’t mean the other one left as well.  One of these little ones, Joseph was so willing to listen and really took in all that Lyle and Pastor Noah said, the other one, the leader, was much more closed, but still listening. 

Thomas and Joseph

Since then, I am happy to say, there are no more reports of fighting.  We do get stopped so often by boys on the street begging us to go to school.  There are so many!! One in a wheelchair, who left the chair on the other side of the ditch and crawled over the little wood bridge on his knees, came over to us and I asked in my best Kjong what his name was.  He replied in very good English, “you want to know my name? It is Samuel.”  I was impressed.  He very much wants to continue school; he is very bright.  Please pray with us for this very real need here, whether the Lord would have AIM work with local leaders to meet this need or if there is another way. It is huge and God keeps reminding me of James, that faith without works is dead. 

He is also reminding me that He has called me to be faithful to His leading for me, which doesn’t equal productive as in doing, without obedience to Him.  I hope that makes sense.  Lyle and I are called to love Christ with a passionate love and to know that the only true missionary method that is effective is the method of love.  This we are joyously doing, loving each and everyone we have the privilege of interacting with. We are clinging to this hope, that only God’s love has the power to shine in the darkness, to change lives, to melt the heart of stone, to give true life.  Our role is to abide in Him.  Jesus said over and over in John 14  “those who love Me, obey Me.”  Our prayer is that we would be obedient to Him, to truly love Him!!  We keep ever mindful that we are to look to see the places where the Lord would place AIM team members in this land as we deepen our roots as well.  We thank the Lord for Paul’s prayer:  2 Thessalonians 3:5 – “May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.”  We believe he prayed this for us as well and we are on the learning curve of the patient endurance here as there is nothing romantic about missionary work.  The encouragement He gives us each day keeps us desiring to be alert and disciplined to continue to complete what He has called us to.

Adam with his mother and siblings

Some of you may recall I had measured a young boy, Adam, with cerebral palsy a while ago for a new wheelchair. Another  AIM missionary, July Probst, who works with special needs children, was able to order it for him. Here he is in his new chair with his mama and siblings.  A foot rest went missing during transport (fell off on the road somewhere), but Lord willing a replacement will be located.

Thank you for being with us here in Karamoja and for your patient endurance as well, as you encourage us greatly in so many ways. We hope to see may of you in our travels across the USA in 7 weeks as we go from the east coast to the west coast to spend time with each of our children and their families.

This last photo simply could not be resisted. We were leaving the market and saw that some of the local goat population decided that the unoccupied shopping stalls would be a splendid spot for a noon time rest. 

Goats enjoying a noontime rest!

Love,

Ingrid & Lyle

May 21

Hello from Ingrid in a rainy Karamoja!!!  We are praising the Lord and thanking Him for sending the rains.  There was rain, a lot of rain three weeks ago and then very few sprinkles until today.  I call it rain but it is really a deluge.  We sincerely want to thank everyone who has interceded for this dry and weary land, for physical rain and for the living water of Jesus Christ to be a reality here.

I have been seeing the actuality of theology being lived out here in Moroto, and continue to self examine to see what theology are others seeing in my actions as I go about my life.  I don’t know where this saying comes from, but I am experiencing it to be true here: “Who you are, speaks so loudly that I can’t hear what you say.” It is amazing to me how much what we say we believe doesn’t line up to how we act and what we care about, myself included.  As I seek the Lord to examine my heart and to have the courage to face where He desires change in me, I find that my trust in Him is way too tied to what I see and experience on a physical level as being reality, when what is real is very much tied to the invisible world.  So truly trusting Him with all of me, circumstances and experiences notwithstanding, is the cry of my heart.  I am learning to accept everything as it comes, as from Him whom my soul loves.  My responsibility in every circumstance is to love with His love and to hunger to beat with His heart.  The longer I am here in Karamoja, the more I comprehend that only God’s love has the power to change the imbedded darkness of this land. I am wrapping my self in Ephesians 6:11-18 and knowing that it is not I who lives but Christ Who lives in me.

The Holy Spirit has exposed a new concept for me on verse 14 about wearing the belt of truth.  I have always associated this verse to be about me being truthful in all matters even when it hurts, that is, I exemplify Christ’s character, but I am now standing on the firm ground of Jesus as the Truth and everything He says is real. This is the truth I am to wrap around myself as a belt.  For instance, in Luke 1:37 Jesus says: nothing is impossible with God.  When I look and listen to the way things have been here for hundreds of years, and the way even those who call themselves Christians live, it looks impossible for change to occur and for two old puny Christ followers to have any impact.  But my Bible says that God uses the weak to show His strength, and I am trusting “His Truth” as never before.

When the Lord affirmed to me years ago that Lyle and I would live in Africa, He told me that He was going to send us to people who felt invisible and valueless.  I experienced the affirmation of this as God’s Truth just the other day. A young Kjong man, hired for construction of the house being built for us, had gestured to me at lunch that his back was hurting.  I asked him if I could pray for him and he nodded yes.  A lot of this communication is my few childish Kjong words and lots of gestures.  He indicated later that it was better.  The next day, Lyle and I were over at the construction site and I asked him how he was, he again indicated that it hurt.  I knew the Kjong word for medicine and felt I was to offer him some ibuprofen. I said when he was finished to come to the Hotel and I would give it to him. At the end of the day he showed up and I had a little packet of pills ready for him.  I got him some water and gave him two.  He cried, the first Kjong I think I have seen really cry, and raised his hands to the sky and he spoke in Kjong.  The staff interpreted for me, this is what he said;  “Now I know that God sees me.” I was so moved by what a very small act of compassion produced in this precious man’s heart, and it reminded me that the Karimojong do not think God sees them.  Love, God’s love, in little acts of kindness will break the lie this tribe has believed that they are invisible to God and have no value. 

Typical open ulcerated wound

Another aspect of this kind of compassion is treating the “first aide” kind of wounds the street boys have. They cannot get their wounds treated because they are too dirty and do not have a book to take to the outpatient clinic.  Each person must bring their own book to be charted in by the medical teams before they are able to receive treatment.  So on a given day I can see two or three wounds needing to be cleaned and bandaged. Our prayer is that we will be willing instruments for God’s glory each and every day, by being led by Him in every loving thing He leads us to do.  We all do live our theology, whatever that may be, and I pray that what I do, speaks to the truth of Who I believe in, the Only Living God, Love Incarnate, Who is and will change this land.

Example of typical borehole

God has opened doors for us to work with a group of manyattas in putting together a proposal for a US donor who wants to fund sustainable water projects.  It has been wonderful to see the tie between physical water for people, livestock, and gardens and the living water Jesus gives, which changes souls and minds and sustains them no matter the circumstances.  

Joseph and Thomas

Also, the Lord has led us to follow through with two more of the street boys we became acquainted with at the crusades, sponsoring them in boarding school.  We decided on boarding, since they are truly orphaned (no parents or grandparents) and they have no safeplace to live. We were able to corroborate this sad fact through people from their village.  Part of the market in Moroto burned up in the middle of the night a few weeks ago, and these boys were sleeping in the area that was burning. So having a bunk in a dorm for them is the safest place we can find to put them for now.  Their faces said it all after we had taken them there, paid the school fees, and purchased everything necessary for them to function.  The only thing the school provides is the dorm, one big hall, with a few frames for mattresses that must be provided by the boys. We came back after the first day of school on Monday, the 19^th, and they had set up their bunks. There was a peace and joy replacing the fear and apprehension that had always marked their faces before.  They took out their notebooks and with smiles showed us what they had worked on that day.  They are 12 years old and had not completed second grade yet, we don’t know how long they have been out of school.  The headmaster decided they should be put back in second grade. The word has gotten out and we have been approached by at least 5 more boys who want to go to school.  The Ugandan system is very confusing, because primary school is supposed to be free, but it isn’t. So just wanting to go seems not to entitle one to be able to go. Every humanitarian organization that we have spoken with that are suppose to be helping children, are not addressing those with no parents, that are on the street. This group seems to have fallen through the cracks. Even without uniforms and school supplies, we were required to pay 9,000 UGX for Peter to attend day school. So much we still need to learn and understand. We continue to pray that we will have hearts to learn about this culture that God has created to reflect a part of His great variety of people made in His image.

Children in the "bush"

Since my opportunity to teach a women’s bible study, I have been asked to help this women’s group be able to minister to women in the manyattas in Moroto district. They have a vision of going out on Sundays and sharing the Good News that God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us who believe in Jesus, into the Kingdom of light, through Jesus’ purchase of our freedom and forgiveness of our sins.  I drove two of the leaders out for a survey trip of the two areas they were going to start with on Friday the 16^th.  I was a week into feeling sick, but I was not thinking I had malaria because I didn’t have a temperature. I was excited to be in the bush and meeting more of the people I feel God’s love for.  We had a productive time and the survey trip was a very good idea, because what the women thought were sites for meeting ended up being different.  Lyle had to step in for me on Sunday, the actual day to go, because by Saturday I did have the fever and was down in bed. I was praising the Lord, because Lyle as a man was thinking this was valuable enough to put his efforts there and I hope this will be an example for others to follow.  Lyle is also pursuing Bible studies at the police barracks and we would value prayer on this as well.  I am past taking the malaria meds, but it still takes very little effort before I feel very weak, which is challenging for my nature J.   Another area I am surrendering more and more to the will of my Lord and Master.

Please keep the house being built for us in prayer. We were supposed to move in on May 16^th, but this is continuing to be pushed back. We are hoping the work will be complete when we return from our visit to the States. We know that God knows where He wants us and for how long, and I remind myself that He started this, we didn’t, and that it will be finished according to His will.  We desire prayer that nothing holds back what God has planned for us, please.  AIM has graciously allowed us to travel back to the USA to greet a new grandson in Florida, Pat and Amy’s new addition.  We are grateful and excited to have this unexpected opportunity to reunite with all our loved ones, as we travel from Florida to the West coast to see most of the rest of the family and all our friends.  We are praying that the house will be complete when we return to Uganda the end of August.

For all of you who have prayed for me thru my maiden experience with malaria, my heart felt thanks!!!  It has been sobering to personally experience what is the leading killer for Ugandans and most Africans. I think this gives insight into the “real world” – the one we experience, but can’t see. There is an invisible war being waged between light and dark and seemingly small things, like the tiny mosquito, can cause sickness and death. This is true spiritually as well as physically.

Thank you all for your love and for continuing to communicate and support us in so many ways as together we are serving Jesus Christ in Karamoja.  Hopefully we will get to see many of you in less than two months.

Large tray of "white ants" ready to be dewinged

We do pray for all of you, seriously, and are humbled by your ongoing love and communication.

Love, 

Ingrid and Lyle

PS...the photo to the right has nothing to do with this blog other then to show there is no waste. When it rains the "white ants" come out then they are caught and either eaten raw or cooked. Excellent protein. Tastes like sunflower seeds.