A little bit about Uganda

We will be spending most of our time in the far western side
and way down in the south, near Margherita Peak.

We had the wonderful opportunity to get to meet one of the missionary couples that we will be working under in Uganda! It just so happens that they are on furlough right now, and their home base is in PDX and one of their daughters in housemates with one of my dear friends. Coincidence? You tell me J  We had them over for dinner a few months ago and they hosted us just a few weeks ago so we have been able to ask a great deal of questions and learn more about what this ministry might look like.

We learned so many interesting cultural facts that I wished I had taken notes! I want to share just a few things that we have learned about Uganda:

-Like many other countries, most people have house help who will cook, clean, nanny and do yard work for them. It seems odd to have “servant” like people, but in Uganda it takes so much longer to do many of those things, that you need help. It is also a great way to share Jesus.

-There is SO MUCH dust everywhere and you have to dust daily to keep things clean.

-In the more rural areas of Uganda, where we will be spending a great deal of our time, women all wear long skirts. I will be packing just a few and hoping to buy a few while I am there as I will not be bringing any pants.

-People are SO hospitable and will sacrifice greatly to feed visitors a good meal.

-There are many amazing animals in Uganda: elephants, monkeys/primates, cheetahs, leopards, lions, zebras, buffalo, rhinos, and Gorillas! Many tourists who come to Uganda do so in the hopes of finding gorillas.  Though we will not be spending our time following gorillas, we will get to visit a game park and hopefully see some of these amazing animals!

This is a picture taken in the Kasese district,
where we will be spending most of our  time. Isn't it beautiful!?
photo credit

Prayer Requests

Hey guys!

Andrew here, with a couple things we'd really appreciate prayer for:

1) We recently went to a meeting with the rest of our team, and I found out that I'll be teaching a few lessons at the Bible school. I'm super excited for it, but also pretty nervous. The lessons will be from 1 Corinthians, chapters 1-4. Oh yeah - and they also want me to preach one Sunday. I'm honored, excited, and, like I said, nervous, so if you would be in prayer with me for these upcoming opportunities, that would be awesome.

2) This trip in February is geared mainly towards the Bible school, and how we can serve there in the future. For those of you who know us, you know that while my passions are in teaching and church ministry, Naomi has a huge heart to take care of hurting kids. We're hoping that during our time there we can get connected with a ministry that reaches out to these kids, in order to find a way for Naomi to exercise her gifts and abilities. Our prayer is that God would provide both of us a chance to see how we can each be ministering over in Uganda, and that he would speak to our hearts about how he has cut us out for work in his kingdom.

That's it for now, but there's sure to be more to come!

Andrew

Support Letter

For those of you who want to know a few more details about what we are doing, here is our letter that we are giving out to friends and family to keep everyone in the loop and invite people to join us on our journey. 

(Front Page)

(Back Page)

Joy

Joy in the journey…

I keep forgetting that this is something God has impressed upon my heart. I get so busy and swept up in running here and there that it is so easy to become focused on everything but what God is teaching me. Perhaps we should re-name this blog so I don’t forget… (on second thought, I think I will just leave the name as is. It’s hard to get two people with strong opinions to agree on something. There are many crumpled papers with dozens of blog name ideas in the recesses of some recycling facility. Perhaps the title of this blog really should be “Compromising in Marriage”! ;-)

(This pic is from our summer road trip and doesn't
have a lot to do with this post except that I think that
blog posts are rather boring without pictures and this
one represents our outward joy on a physical journey.)

But back to joy… it is a lesson I know God is teaching me and I daily need a reminder to seek to find the joy in each day even when it look and feels like a confusing mess. This stage Andrew and I find ourselves in is uncertain and seems rather crazy. We don’t know what our next steps will be after we come back from Uganda in March. We don’t know where we will live, where Andrew will work, when we will have kids, and whether we will be heading to Seminary or doing something else entirely.  We are willing to walk in whatever path God desires but don’t know what direction he wants us to go. It is easy to get caught up in the confusion and feel overwhelmed. I’ve been struggling with feeling anxious and stressed often. Which is a reminder of my lack of faith. Who am I to worry about what we are going to do with our lives when God totally has this? I am being convicted more and more that it doesn't even matter where we end up or what our next chapter of life will look like. The most important thing is that we are pursuing our relationship with God and growing in our knowledge and love of Him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3

Today I am going to be praying that God helps my knowledge of truth to be owned by the feelings of my heart.

And tomorrow I promise I will post an update on where we are at with Uganda! We’re getting pretty excited!

-Naomi