What a journey these last three months have been. As soon as I touched down in Uganda in early May I found myself daily in Kampala, our capital city, in the government offices. Kampala is a six hour round trip drive in heavy traffic. Paperwork that was submitted on 4 January was still not moving anywhere. After literally one month of shuttling back and forth, our papers were approved for us to remain as a ministry for five more years. Hallelujah! I tell you, I was beyond tired and frustrated. Little knowing that I would again be sitting weekly to push my work permit papers through which I submitted on 1 June. Because the ladies at the desk got to know me very well and they knew my ministry, they helped to push things through for me. Finally, on the 1st of August I received my work permit. Unfortunately, this is a typical scenario of my life and paperwork. It is draining to say the least. I praise God for His grace on my life.
I have also submitted more papers to receive our tax-exempt certificate, which those too have been stalling out. Just when I think I have given them every piece of paper I have, they ask for more. I have received donations to purchase a very much needed Land Cruiser and if I do not get this tax-exempt certificate, we cannot purchase it. So please pray for God’s favor to have our papers accepted as is.
As many of you have heard, there is a serious Ebola outbreak in Congo. They have had many outbreaks but they have all been contained over the years through vaccines. But this strain is proving to be resilient to any current vaccine and doctors have been working furiously to come up with a new vaccine. Uganda did have some cases, less than twenty, and all were treated and released. This has caused fear in the rest of the world. Because of this fear, extreme safety measures have been taken by the airlines. Delta, KLM and United, Brussels Air and Emirates have stopped all their flights to Uganda. It is as if in the days of COVID. We have had no Ebola for over a month and have been practicing extreme border checks and allowing no Congolese to cross the border. To date, 5,000 Congolese have died. The “people in the know” say it is only getting worse in Congo and expect that by January, 20,000 will have died. The biggest problem is the bush people not trusting doctors and so they run from authorities and even escape from hospitals, thereby carrying the virus all around. Also, USAID used to fund this program but no longer do so. There is not enough money to treat everyone. They need prayer, we need prayer, we need God’s intervention.
On the brighter side of things, one of our daughters was married on July 4th in a beautiful ceremony to a beautiful man, a pastor and an entrepreneur. There was so much joy that day that every hardship raising these children was erased as we danced and sang and praised the Lord all day long. The reception was full of joy and God’s glory. When we returned home to show the children here the videos and pictures, all of our girls were dreaming of a marriage such as this one. I am so glad that they were able to see what waiting looks like also because our young lady and her new husband have known each other since their 9th grade school days. I told our children that good marriages usually start from good friendships, not just dating someone. What a beautiful day it was.
Also, just last week, we celebrated 20 years of being in ministry in South Sudan and Uganda. The children said it was the best party and when can we do it again. It is an amazing feeling to be able to look back to our beginnings and see just how far the Lord has brought us. When I look around at what He has given us I am moved to tears so many times. Not a single week goes by where I don’t look around in wonder and joy at what the Lord has done. What He has done in all of our lives, what He has done in our ministry and what He has done in restoring all that we lost. Our God is the Redeemer, the Restorer, the Waymaker. We see it each day as we trust Him for everything. All of our journey has grown and continued by faith. Faith in God and integrity with what God has entrusted us with. Be faithful in the little and He will give you more.
Faithful in perseverance? He will give you more. Faithful in managing, He will give you more. Faithful in teaching, He will give you more. It is far more than money. It is being faithful in all that we do.
We continue to do outreaches in our local communities where we do marketplace evangelism. Uganda is very evangelized so it is difficult ministry because people think they’ve heard it all. But there is a lot of mixture here and many preach prosperity or they constantly harp on sin and its consequences, with very little spiritual growth. We have started some discipleship groups and youth bible studies to reach our village. Jesus wanted us to go and make disciples. And so we must go.
In the last two months 13 of our “children” have completed their college/university education and are just awaiting graduation. Again, I look around in wonder at those who sponsor our children and at God who is always able to make things happen. Never did I imagine this would be a reality until it began to happen. Now we pray that they may find work to do. Most who have gone on have found jobs.
Lastly, I am ever grateful to our donors and sponsors and supporters and prayer warriors, anyone who has sown in any way, I praise God for you. We would never have reached twenty years in ministry if not for you all. Prayers brought us through the war. It took nothing but time to pray. I thank you for taking the time to pray for us. Missions is never easy but Jesus is worthy of it all. Amen
Called 2 Follow 