Adventures in South Sudan

In June our son Evan and his friend David were here in Africa for almost 2 months. They joined Eli on a unique trip into South Sudan to a very remote region up in a plateau mountain area. Our dear missionary friends want to move their family up there to share the Gospel with an unreached people group. So Eli and the "team" they'd assembled journeyed up there to begin setting up a compound/base.

 

The roads are treacherous and the days of travel were long and tiring but the landscape was undescribable!

Finally after several FULL days of travel they reached the top of the plateau. The morning they started work to set up a giant tent which would be the missionary's home, everyone but one person on the team got terribly sick. With the low energy they had, they were able to get the outer tarp shell up. As they sat in the shade for a break, a sudden gust of wind whipped up the side of the mountain and picked up the whole tent, pegs and all, and dumped it in a cluster of thorn bushes! This was the goal of their whole trip - to set up this tent - and it was now in pieces in the bushes!

All Evan and David could do was sit and wonder what God had in store. It was hard to understand why this was happening. This place seemed "set apart" by God for the missionaries to come. The chief and tribal leaders were welcoming of the missionaries and eager to have them come. They had given him this land.

The guys took the opportunity God gave them and had multiple chances to share about Jesus and pray with people.

Our missionary friend demonstrated great faith and determination when he declared that he would pick up all the pieces of the tent and take them back to Kenya to be repaired and he'd be back to try again. The leaders of the area who watched everything taking place, beseeched him not to give up.

Though they didn't accomplish what they set out to do, the trip was not wasted. Evan took this photo of his feet after several days working in the dust. It made me think of the verse in the Bible that states "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!" These truly are beautiful feet!

I share this story because Eli is again back in South Sudan, heading back with our Brother James to try again. This time they've assembled some "special forces", men with different skills and abilities, to not only put up the tent but also hopefully erect a water storage tower and fence in the property. I will try to post updates as I get them from Eli. All I know at this point is that their first day of travel yesterday from Adjumani to Kapoeta, South Sudan took 16 hours!

PLEASE PRAY:

    1. For Health and safety on this trip

    2. For the Lord to bless this trip and allow them to accomplish everything they're              setting out to, if it's His will.

    3. For this group of men to be a light and testimony of Jesus Christ. That this area              will finally have the chance to learn about God's great love for them that He not            only sent His son Jesus for them, but also these missionaries to bring the Source              of  Hope!

Key Moments of the week

I like to pop into Eli's Saturday afternoon computer class to bring him coffee and this week it was cool to see these students with their laptops hanging on his every word. This is real discipline, let me tell you, because they have to keep the doors and windows closed in order to see the projector screen but in the afternoon it is stifling hot! Needless to say, it was an iced coffee I brought Eli. 

Today felt very monumental for me as a Sunday school teacher. We've been working on quite a few memory verses and I've been telling the kids that once they can memorize 10 Bible verses and say them in front of the class, they will receive their very own Bible. Today we had 8 children accomplish this and each of them were given a Bible.

 Another thing that felt big to me was starting a new school year with these young men. This is the first time we're officially homeschooling BOTH boys. Carson is in 3rd grade and Judah is in PreK. Judah is doing a great job listening in to most of the subjects and doing some of his own work but he usually gets dismissed mid morning and then Carson and I finish with the more advanced stuff.

One more "bird" leaving the nest

 

I'm sitting in an airport lounge with tears rolling down my cheeks. It's a mixture of overflowing thankfulness and overwhelming sadness. Grateful because the last few weeks in the States have been some of the sweetest of my life. Sadness because I had to say goodbye to my 3 older boys and I don't think I'll see them for another 18 months!! 

The gift that God has given me as I've helped my third son get settled into university is seeing how he is already thriving and embracing this next step in his life. He is ready and able. So I can get on this plane and know he's going to be more than OK. He's going to thrive... just like his older brothers have. 

It's also such a blessing that these 2 get to be at the same school!

In the last few days I've had the chance to meet and spend time with so many of Evan's friends. God has given him such an incredible community!

Evan and Josh aren't the only 2 I got to see. I got to fly to WA to spend a few days with Isaac and Leah too.

A few weeks ago I didn't know how in the world I was going to be able to get on this plane and leave these 4 and head back across the ocean. But God answered my prayer and prepared my heart. He's been reminding me that I am not alone and He will give me strength every step of the way. 

I've also realized something beautiful. As we launch our kids, it's when we step away and let them go that they blossom into the young men we always prayed they would be. So i guess I'm ready... to get on that plane... and to watch them blossom. 

A Reminder that I'm living in the Dream

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The first reason I feel like I'm living The Dream is because my oldest son is going to get married in ONE MONTH! 3 weeks from today we'll fly to Minnesota to reunite with our other 2 boys and work together to get ready for this special wedding. This is beyond exciting!

Meanwhile, tonight as I was doing the "normal" evening things like taking an evening walk at sunset, enjoying the most delicious cool breeze I thought to myself, "I can't believe I get to live here!"

After finishing school today the boys and I wandered over to the church where most of the women of the church were shelling the groundnut harvest. This is just normal, every day stuff and yet my heart was full as I listened to the women chatter in Madi and tried to follow along. "This is the dream."

Soccer right outside our gate (where our dog Otis won't interfere) is a daily afternoon occurrence.So even though life has been so full and some days I feel like I'm going to lose my head because it's got so many different things swirling around in it, I'm thankful for the simple reminders of all that we get to take part in here in our corner of Uganda. Tonight I was outside feeding our dogs and noticed Judah's giant Tonka dumptruck just sitting there. I thought to myself, "Oh how well I know that soon the Tonka trucks will be gone and our little ones will be growing up and leaving home too." So I paused in my nightime routine and thanked the Lord for the reminder of how blessed I am to have these little boys who leave Tonka trucks and legos laying around. And the thought crossed my mind again..." I really am living The Dream."

Girls Program

I taught from 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Yesterday we had a special time with young women in our community. I teamed up with my good friend Sydney, who is also a missionary here in Adjumani, for an afternoon of Bible teaching on purity and saving ourselves for marriage and other topics for young ladies. It was perfect timing as the youth are out of school for a short break. We also gave out packs of reusable sanitary pads which are such a lifesaver here. The girls were so grateful and it was a joy to have an afternoon where we could play games, eat cake, encourage them to be strong in the Lord and pray over them.

This is my friend Sydney - a real God send

 

Trip Across the Nile

A couple weeks ago we set out on a fun getaway trip with our good friends the Mugume family, fellow missionaries here in Adjumani. We had reserved a few nights at a new retreat center for people in ministry so we wanted to go check it out plus we were eager to see some teammates we hadn't seen in a while. Arua is only 60 miles from Adjumani but the roads are rough and you have to cross the Nile River by ferry. We set out on what we thought would be a 4 hour trip and ended up being 12 hours!

I don't need to go into all the details but basically the first ferry we went to ended up being closed down so we had to back track all the way back to Adjumani and head to the other ferry. By then there was a long line since all the river traffic had to cross in one place. We waited for almost 3 hours to cross! Thankfully, upon arrival at the retreat center after dark, we discovered a place of rest and refreshment and the rest of our time was sooo wonderful. So much so that we ended up staying an extra night!

Mornings on the porch with coffee and our Bibles was the best way to start our days!

Bonfire with our friends

 Hiking the waterfalls

 Hanging out with 2 AIM AIR pilot families was such an encouragement for all of us.

 Even our trip home wasn't perfectly smooth but my friend Sydney and I reminded each other that when we do hard things TOGETHER, it doesn't seem so bad. We are so very thankful that God brought the Mugume family to serve here in Adjumani. It's such a joy to have like minded friends to live missionary life with.

Our plans didn't work out but God turned it into a GREAT GIFT!

At the end of May we traveled the 2 day car journey to Josh's school in Kenya to surprise him in time to watch him play a rugby game. We also stayed for his junior banquet and his 4 day midterm break. It was while we were on his break that we realized our car was having major troubles. We took it to the mechanic just days before we were supposed to drive home and found out that it needed lots of new parts and major work done. It ended up delaying us almost 2 weeks. At first we were flustered about the change in our plans because we had things we needed to get back to in Uganda. But those extra weeks were the grestest gift for our family! Not only did Eli and I get some much needed rest but during a year that we've really struggled to be so far away from our older boys, God gave us the gift of extra quality time doing life with Josh.

During our time in Kenya we celebrated Eli's birthday, Father's Day, and my birthday.

On Father's Day, Joshua and Eli went on an epic motorcycle safari with some other guys from RVA.

 

Carson had never played baseball before but since Josh was playing softball for PE, Carson got to join in and learned how to bat! The PE teacher ended up giving him his own bat and ball to bring back to Adjumani!

Rift Valley Academy is a wonderful place and the community there totally enfolded us while we were there. They even gave us our own place to stay when they heard we needed to stay longer. One of the perks of our own house was that I was able to cook our own meals and Josh LOVED having home cooked meals. He took turns inviting friends to join us.

The 2nd day of  our drive back to Uganda was our 23rd wedding anniversary. We concluded our wonderful month away with giant cappuccinos to celebrate.

 

Carson and Judah were delighted to return to their friends. They definitely love their life here in Uganda!

As I have reflected on the month of June, the lesson I've learned is that when our plans don't go the way we expected, often God has something even better in store! I'm going to try to remember that next time our plans change.