times like these

What a time to be alive! Uhhhh. I don’t even know where to begin from. One thing i am thankful for right now is having a secure home in a quiet place far from the chaos of town and this has afforded me the privilege of sitting in our porch with a cool breeze and write down my thoughts. I have realised in times of crises like these, where you call home matters a lot.

A lot has happened from the last time i wrote. Today we are in day 7 of the extended two week lock-down and this is the least popular extension of them all; which is sad especially when some are trying to adhere to it but increasing numbers of people are tired and are breaking it. Last week i took a walk to town and was surprised because it was different from the previous time i was there. There were more people in town, many cars in town, shops that were not announced to reopen were all open and a few people i talked to said the same thing- “i have reached the wall and there’s no other option”. Feeding their families is key and a majority of them had run out of options and the only thing left was to risk to go hustle. From the news, it looks like it’s the trend countrywide. Government is still distributing food mainly in the capital and the up-country populace seems to start getting mad why they are left out and yet the lock-down affects even them. So far, i am choosing to refuse to fall into the temptation to drive, because you just never know when the evil day will strike and you get arrested for disobeying the presidential orders as some have been including two members of our household who were apprehended for being out during curfew hours, though of course my circumstances are totally different from what many people are going through. 

The worry is the continued rise in positive cases mainly from the truck drivers from the neighbouring countries where the virus seems to be spreading more rapidly. Many people are fearful that the president might extend the lock down again next week; i hope he does not. And then the issue of the face masks that are now compulsory. I am wondering how this is going to be enforced especially in the villages and among those who might have to choose between buying a face mask and buying food. God help us all.

There have been a lot of tears and mourning from the last time i wrote. Our pastor and ministry friend lost his 8 year old son to pneumonia! My co-pastor and his wife also had a miscarriage a couple of days a go, i was in excruciating pain myself from a serious bout of ulcers and still on medication and recovering from it, people that i know have lost children, teenagers and just yesterday another young man in his late twenties died after he collapsed on Saturday. My work mate is currently on drip with malaria, one of girls at home here has her grandmother on a deathbed. Then the continuous calls for help from left, centre and right.

Countrywide the current heavy rains have caused a lot of destruction- houses have been swept away, people killed, roads washed away, crops destroyed in the gardens, etc. Mother nature seems to be very furious with us and is revenging for something that we have done.

Back to the continuation of my experience with the 1993 famine and how it changed our society forever.

Growing up, our families were mainly extended and the pride of a man was having all his sons build their huts around him in the same compound and all their wives would cook, and food would be served and eaten communally with the father and his sons eating at the table, the mother and her daughters in-law would also sit in one group and eat and the children would also have their own group eating together. It was a beautiful sight to behold. Women would cook food in excess knowing anytime anyone would pass by and he or she would be welcome to come and eat. People would eat green vegetables, Beans, and Peas during the day and then Meat or Fish or Chicken or wild game would be for supper when there would be no or minimal chances of anyone passing by and needing to eat! It was a good tactic and some stubborn kids would want to continue playing up to late when they realise their hosts were cooking soup and it was a different story in their own homes. They would be gently nudged to go back to their homes to shower since it was getting late!

However, when the famine struck, everything was turned upside down. Extended families started breaking up with some members accusing the others of not doing enough to bring in food, wives started serving some food and keeping it aside so that their kids would eat later before going to bed since what was served earlier was not enough. There was a famous place where people who had money would go and buy food and it was called “Agip” here in Soroti. If you passed by a home and people were eating, they would tell you “Karibu Agip”, Kiswahili word for “Come to or welcome to Agip”, literally communicating that this food was bought from Agip and it’s small and not enough for even us. They were passing a message that “we are not eating food from our gardens”. From that time till now the extended families have slowly been disappearing and i wonder what will now happen to the Nuclear family after COVID-19 and its effects. The biggest emerging issues already so far is the rise in cases of domestic violence and mental health issues. Families are likely to break up even more as hopelessness breeds more violence and depression.

For now though, the best thing we can do is not to point fingers and play the blame game but to fight for each other’s survival first, then we can go back to our political battles afterwards. Those who have, should not demonise those who don’t have, calling them lazy and reckless and rebuking them for not planning. But help them survive first and then give them “a piece of your mind” later. And those who don’t have should not look at those who have as boasting and showboating and praying for their downfall, but rather be grateful and pray for them and you can go back to calling them whatever names after we have all survived this. We are all His image bearers and ought to honour and value each other rather than jumping at each other’s throats. 

May His Amazing grace see you all from going insane. Shalom.   

Dungeon thoughts

Hello everyone. Today, i write with a very heavy and sad heart. Last week started with a lot of promise and positivity. One of my senior pastor friends and father figure here in Soroti called early in the week and told me he was in trouble. My heart raced and i kept thinking about the bad news he was about to break to me, only for him to tell me that the trouble was that he missed me and he needed to call and find out how i was doing! I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged to know that someone thought about me. 

Later in the week i video talked with my mentor; maybe those who watch “The Voice” music competitions would call him a mega mentor? We had not talked for a while and it was good to catch up. I felt the week was going on well, we had given out food to families that needed it most and helped a few people here and there with XYZ.

Then yesterday we had a great Sunday service at home, i thought, and had planned to have a big dance party at 5pm as a family just to make sure we’ve all still got our moves, and also as a way of telling COVID-19 we were not prepared to let it steal our joy and our everything.

Then i got a call from one of our church members and also workmate that a brother from our church had his three and half month old baby on oxygen fighting for his life! I had to rush to make some petitions to God and switched off my phone in order to concentrate. Later in mid afternoon Beckie comes in and breaks the news that the baby had passed on to glory! This is our first loss as a church and it hit really hard. I called the brother who had called earlier and he told me the kid’s dad was unconscious and also needed much prayer. I was told the baby was supposed to be referred for more treatment out of Soroti but there was no transport means readily available due to the travel ban and also the hospital resources being reserved for COVID response. I was mad that i would not be able to go and give a hug to brother Julius and sis. Sophy because of a ban on funerals and also the travel ban. We sent help their way, though to me, no amount of money can compare with a good hug and words of encouragement from a friend or family.

After about 40 minutes Beckie walked in again and said “are you ready for more bad news?” I almost screamed “NOOOOOOOOO” but i said sure and she told me one of our most vulnerable church family members who we had just helped with food and medical treatment two days earlier also had her youngest daughter admitted in the clinic after she just suddenly collapsed! The baby who died also started by collapsing and then just kept on getting worse and worse very fast. We are still praying for this baby and petitioning our father to save her life and bring complete healing. Her family is already in tatters and the worst thing you want right now is more sickness or even death in that family.

About two hours or so later, i was now seated outside, sipping some hot tea thinking deeply when Beckie came out again and called out and asked if i was ready for more bad news! We had to cancel the dance party because of all the bad news and i was seated there thinking whether i should cancel our daily family Bible study at 8pm as well when the latest news came in. Our dear friends who are more of family than friends had also lost a baby, they had a miscarriage! In my head i was like Lord, what’s going on? 

Let me leave that sad news there….

COVID19 or however they call it is turning our lives upside down. I was watching BBC News last week and the UNWFP was forecasting the East African region to be hit hard by a famine that had already started hitting some parts. They attributed this to poor rains last year, locust invasion this year, poor rains this year as well as the effect that COVID was going to have in these economies. Whenever i hear that word “Famine” my mind rushes back to the “great famine of 1993”. As i told you last time that i would touch on it a little this time and maybe i will continue on it next week God willing.

I was about 8 by then and in primary school. The famine was so severe that there was a lock down of sorts. Schools and churches were shut. I don’t know about those in town but for us in the village the situation was dire. We had no food. We would go with our grandmother to work for those who needed help in return for food but this also ended soon as the famine started catching up with even the so called “village rich”. We cooked every green thing imaginable until there was nothing green anymore and everywhere was just dry with dry heat. All the trees had shed off their leaves and were bare. We hunted for all the bush rats we could find in the beginning before we all became too weak to even lift a hoe up! There was food relief which to me looking back now was more like food punishment of the sorts. We all had to walk for about 4 miles to the distribution centre so that those giving food would see all the members of our family. Then we would be given four cups (roughly two kilos or four pounds) of maize flour (posho) and two cups (a bout a kilo or two pounds) of Beans for our family of 6 to last a month at least until the next distribution! People would still fight for food and we would hear rumours of how those who were in charge had first taken XYZ number of sacks of Posho and Beans for themselves. We would then have to trek back home slowly with regular stops once all of us or any member of our entourage would lose sight! Yes, lose sight! By this i mean your vision would just go black and you would feel your head spinning and you had to sit down immediately for a little while until you are able to see again and then trek again. Our grandma would pick a handful of Posho flour and drop it in a big saucepan of boiling water just to change the colour of the water and then serve us to drink. She would say “drink until you sweat all that hunger out”. Mingling the posho (making it into a sort of doughy bread) would be wastage and so we just drank it in water (i am saying drank and not eat because it was not thick but just white water!). She did the same with the Beans. She would boil a handful and put salt to just have the colour of soup and give us to drink. You would be lucky to have a Bean in your bowl and if you chanced to get one or two you would pick it, put it or them in your other hand and then drink the soup first, after you finish, you run somewhere either behind the house or where you are not seen and then take your time biting and chewing your Bean or Beans slowly just to have the feeling of chewing something! 

People we knew died from that famine and we came close ourselves to death a few times. To let you know how serious this was, even birds were starving, and once in a while, when we would go to hunting for birds with our slingshots especially after gaining the energy from drinking something hot, we could find birds that were tired of flying once in a while and when we opened them up we would find no food in the food sac (i hope that’s how it’s called). That famine altered and changed the dynamics of our society forever, the old normal went through the window and the new normal was ushered in. I will tell you how next time…

So whenever i hear news of famine, the one of 1993 is my benchmark though we haven’t had anything like that since. But i have serious fears that this time, we might descend into something close to or even similar to that because if this virus persists and our already fragile economy collapses (God forbid), coupled with the damage that locusts have caused in some parts of the country and irregular rainy season that’s already hampering the planting season, then we will be in serious trouble. A friend of mine who i have known for years has two kids who have sickle cell anemia, he had a small stationary shop at their centre that he survived on besides farming that he had to close down due to the lockdown, had his entire gardens and fruits eaten by the locusts and is now in serious need of help and this won’t affect him only this year but next year as well. This past week some of the people we gave food burst into tears because they had no food and didn’t know where their next meal was going to come from. Government is also overwhelmed and is only giving food to two districts out of the 132 we have and even in those two it’s overwhelmed. The food they give (6 kilos of Posh and 4 of Beans) is very insufficient to run a home until their situation improves. In fact it cannot even feed most families for four days and yet we are hearing the effects of this thing will not disappear anytime soon.

Yesterday we checked the prices of Beans in town and already they have gone high by significant amounts. Last time we bought our bag of beans at 332,000 Shillings, yesterday we were told it’s now 400,000 Shillings! And so are the prices of all other essential foods. I am hoping tomorrow when the president addresses the nation, he will give some good news. I am happy with how government is handling this pandemic with now 47 recoveries and no deaths and no new infections found so far in over two weeks from among the citizens except from truck drivers coming in from our neighbouring countries. I hope we will have some phased reopening of the country so that people can go and hustle for some food because any extension will make an already difficult situation worse.

On a positive side though, i have been able to spend more time with our son teaching him some of the things we used to do as children. We have been able to make a cow from the anthill mud. We also started making letters of the alphabet from the mud and we have made some “bullets” for my slingshot. We are exploring ways of starting a side business of selling these “bullets” to those who might need some in order to make some money. I was joking with a friend that we can do home deliveries for these on a small fee.

I know this is a long read, so, bless your heart for making it all the way to the end. I would also like to hear how you are doing and coping up with this pandemic. Till then, Stay safe and take care of yourself and your loved ones, Shalom.

Some thoughts from Rev Ruudz

Having taken almost a three year sabbatical from writing, i thought now could be the right time to striating writing again once in a while. And with all the hullabaloo surrounding the discussion of COVID19; with some even renown preachers whom i have followed for a long time suggesting the end is nigh, others saying COVID19 will wipe us all out and with different medias both small and big pushing their own versions of “breaking news” and “exclusives” on the subject, it almost takes a miracle to remain sane and “normal”. Yes, that word “normal”, i don’t know how normal i am right now and i don’t know how many of you are still “normal”.

Ahaaa…i wonder how each of you is coping up with this isolation and social distancing thing from wherever you are. For us here and for me in particular, i don’t know what to even think of or make of it. 

On one hand i was glad when our president made the call when he did to shut down schools and big gatherings. At that time we had less than 5 cases i think (hopefully my memory is still holding) and i thought that was brilliant because if the thing had spread to our schools, the effects would be devastating considering the status of our limping health sector. The president gave genuine reasons and for the first time in my lifetime i saw both ruling and opposition politicians agreeing that was the right thing to do. But then gradually, the shut down kept biting different categories of people until it came to an almost grinding halt bar a few “essential service providers”.

Things really started dawning on me when i started seeing our young people come back from school one by one. When our eldest came back from University, he was not particularly happy. After interacting with him, he told me he did not want to leave school because he’s already too old to be at school and didn’t want to take a time off. he actually stayed in his hostel for almost 5 days after the shut down and i kept calling him to come home because rumour was circulating that public transportation was going to be closed and he would have been cut off. This rumour became a reality less than 4 days after he came!

Presidential addresses soon became something all of would look forward to with some dread, wondering what was coming next and indeed each address always came with “new measures”. And just like a good teacher does, the president would recap all the previous measures, give the latest number of those who are positive, make a few jokes in between and the towards the end, announce new measures. I actually came to believe that the president himself enjoys these briefings and appears not to want to end them, otherwise, why would he spend over two hours each time addressing us, sipping his drink occasionally (still a mystery what it is that he sips from his mug), cracking jokes and even answering a few questions from his social media followers? 

The bite of the measures soon started taking their toll and we are all still reeling from these measures. I could say i am still dazed. A few days from our grand opening of our “Airiamet (Meeting Place) Coffee Shop”, the president announced a total lock down! I had just finished recruiting 6 unemployed young people and they were all excited to start work, then boom, no customers! then came banning of private transportation except cargo trucks, then motor cycle taxis known as Bodas except for deliveries but not passengers, then a curfew from 7pm to 6:30am each day, etc. The markets and people reacted to these measures with panic. Prices of some essential basics like salt increased by more 200% in one of the days. The social media was awash with nail biting stories of the effects of the shut down; from women giving birth on their walk to the hospitals, some security forces beating people and raping women (the president later called them pigs, which is a new name people call them now), a photo of a bleeding old woman who was thrown down on the turmack by a boda that was taking her to hospital when police started chasing them down, a nurse using a wheel burrow to wheel a patient to the next hospital because the one she worked in didn’t have the medications, to a boda being shot dead by security forces for carrying a passenger, another boda knocked off a traffic police officer who tried to stop him because he was carrying a passenger, women sleeping in the markets because the president said all market vendors and factory workers should camp and sleep at their work places  to avoid bringing the virus to their homes and yesterday i saw another touching photo of a man trying to scoop maize flour that had poured down on the road to take home. The worst is a couple of people that i heard committed suicide because they could not feed their families; one teacher who lived hand to mouth could not feed his family for two days and couldn’t bear looking at his wife and kids helplessly, he hung himself!….there are many heart wrenching stories that i cannot write all of them. Two days ago i watched a video of a heartless drunk young man beating his 70 year plus old mother because she did not leave for him food!

I miss our little church family, i miss seeing everyone taking tea and chatting and our Sunday school kids blowing candles and cutting cake each month when we celebrate birthdays. It breaks my heart that i cannot see them like before, and it’s harder because most cannot afford the luxury of social media because most are struggling to put food on the table. So for us, the idea of online services or virtual meetings is a luxury and too expensive a cost for our members. Hearing them tell and testify on the phone of how God provided a meal for them and how they are having faith in his word keeps warming my heart, but at the same time breaks my heart. There are particularly 3-5 families that i know are struggling and our church collections were all used up for the purchase of church land and i keep praying for their sustenance.

When the president announced an extension of the lock down for 21 more days last week, there was a sense of desperation, hopelessness, despair, name it, from those personally know. I cannot even name the number of calls i get per day from relatives and friends asking for help to have food. My relatives and many others particularly had a very poor harvest last season because of rain fluctuations which have continued up to this year. They already had a famine even before this pandemic surfaced and they are now struggling even more. They all look at us as rich people, which we are, compared to many others and they always get startled when i tell them rich is relative because when we also go to the States, we are poor and have to get government insurance! Many cannot wrap their minds around that. So these volumes of calls for help have started taking a toll on me personally. I have my own family of 12 and a half to feed, and yet all these calls are calls of genuine need of people in need of food. I have struggled with depression for a while and the beginning of this lockdown worsened it. But i am grateful that when i started doing exercise (which i started after the president stopped people from jogging and instead asked all Ugandans to exercise from their houses and even went ahead the next day to post a video of himself exercising in his office, i was challenged to start), i feel a little better now.

I have also noticed a couple of our young men are struggling. I talked to them recently and it all comes down to the feeling of hopelessness. They have both had traumatic pasts and felt hope being at school and the extension of the lock down didn’t help matters. They want to be at school and are worried the whole year might end up getting “wasted”. And the realist in me is not good at coming up with hopeful encouraging words because we do not know how long this is going to continue and we are torn between acceptance of this new life and hope for a return to the previous normal. So please, spare some time and pray for Edgar and Jorem, they need it and the rest of us as well.

The thinker in me has been tossing around in my bed wondering how powerful this virus is. That powers and empires, with wealth and science and technology that cannot be compared to any other in history have been reduced to their knees! Who knew that the enemy would not require the atomic bombs and missiles and war planes and name it…how powerful is this tiny virus to close the aviation industry and temporarily (hope so) disrupt every country in the world! It makes the words of apostle Paul ring true that “…for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God…”Hopefully now that the foolishness in us has been exposed, it’s time to seek for true wisdom from God. This is my prayer that all the world leaders and scientists and all those powers that may, can seek for true wisdom and i am glad to read about the increasing number of people who are searching about Jesus and confessing him as their Lord on their own. This is significant because many of the so called great pastors and prophets of our time, who have been stealing money from the unsuspecting flock as “seed” for healing, prosperity, blessings, etc have been found out. Many announced this year to be a year of this or that and the congregations cheered with hopeful glee not knowing God had other plans. A comedian i follow on twitter recently made fun of some of the pastors we have here in Uganda and around the world and he was showing clips of their “New Year” messages and many were claiming “God told me this is the year of…” and it went from property, wealth accumulation, health, double portions, blessings, etc and the congregants shouted  “i receive” and many said seal it with your seed of faith. Of course i am not saying all of them are fake, but from my knowledge from my own background of this type of things, i can tell that many of them are in this for money. Hopefully Corona will shape all of us into seeking him in ways we have never done before and that we will all use this darkness to shine his light so that when the world sees this light and salt in us, they will praise our Father who is in heaven and not us.

I better sign off from here, i already feel better because i have got some things off my chest. Maybe it’s a great idea to keep writing after all. In my next writing, i will try to compare the current situation to the one of the great famine of 1993 that had such life changing devastating effects. Please let us keep praying for one another and i pray for the Lord to touch all of you who might be sick, anxious, worried or whatever it is. We will come out of this stronger and better than we went in. Just take off this time to reflect and pause. Reevaluate, refocus, repurpose. For me the brightest thing during this time is that it has helped me and our son bond more. Before i would run to town in the morning and race back in the evening to try to see him before he went to bed and many times i always arrived late and i would feel bad. Now he has all of us and we have bonded more and his true personality is starting to come out. He does not know what’s going on or why everyone is at home but he sure enjoys the attention and the time. Now he calls me to pray with him before he takes his nap and before he goes to bed at night! So my friends, find something to be thankful for during this time, till we meet again whether in this life or the next, remain in his shalom. Be better and not bitter. Bless you.

Our LoCoDI ministry video for 2017-2018

Prayer Labyrinth Wandering

We are currently in Boston sharing with people about the ministry in Uganda. Today we got to take a few hours and meander around town. We came across a church just opposite the commons. It said open so we went in. The church was completely empty as it was a Thursday early afternoon. They had removed all of the old pews from the church which left a tiled floor wide open. In the middle of the floor was a prayer labyrinth.

I first heard of one of these several years back when I used to ride my bike to work and I would pass a church on the corner that invited people to come and walk their prayer labyrinth. Once I did a little research and found out what it was I kept telling myself one day I would stop and walk it, but I never did. Today was a new day. I decided that I would walk this labyrinth today. So today, Ruudy waited patiently as I walked this labyrinth. I couldn't put it off any longer.
I began, a little unsure at first, cuz after all this was my first time, and I wasn't completely sure what exactly to do. But I just started walking the maze and praying. It wasn't like lightening struck and I fell face down or anything, but slowly I began hearing what the Lord had to say to me in that moment. As I wandered back and forth and around, sometimes closer to the center, sometimes further, sometimes on long stretches and some times barely moving forward before turning again, I could hear the Lord whispering to my heart, "seasons."
I've heard it before, but He knew I needed to hear it again. Some seasons are quick and easy, some short and hard, some seem like they are never going to end, and others I wish would go on forever, sometimes I feel so near to Him, and in some seasons He feels so far. But in each season He is still at the center, and ultimately all of my wandering and seeking Him is indeed leading me closer to Him. It all moves around Him at the center, and as long as He is my anchor, each season will pass and I will draw closer still. As I made it to the center of the circle at the end of the labyrinth journey, there was a peace that settled in my heart. Having reached my final destination, I was finally where I had wanted to be the whole time.
"We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf" Hebrews 6:19-20a.

Off and Running

We thank God for continuing to lead us this year. The year has started off well and full of excitement for what it might hold. Beckie had a young women’s retreat the last week in January which went on well. The ladies were able to spend time away and connect with God in different ways then they are used to. We had a visitor, Beckie's friend Meredith come and teach and share with us on the retreat and in other programs with the young people last month. Their lives were blessed by her contributions.

The ladies at Sisiyi Falls

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 The various men’s fellowships, youth service and bible study for the children in the sponsorship program have continued to hold and we thank God for such avenues to go deeper with the discipleship of young  people.

Gabriel talking with the children in the sponsorship program

December and January Birthdays celebrated at the youth service

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This month of February school is starting back up and so will most of our school ministry programs. Please pray with us as we start purity clubs back up for the new year. Also we had an outreach at a secondary school at the beginning of the week. Our new speakers/sound system arrived with Meredith, and this outreach was our first time to put them to use. They worked well and we are so thankful for this addition to the ministry. 

Singing with the students

Ruudy and Pastor Fred talking with those who received Christ

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Our dance team and choir have been hard at work. And gave inspiring performances during the outreach.

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dance dance

 You can pray for our dancers by name, that they would continue to grow in Christ and keep using their talents for the glory of God. They are Evelyn, Moses, Gladys, Scovia, Lydia and Jacob. 

Also we hired a new volunteer this past month, Everine. Please pray with us for her as she begins to minister with us in various capacities. She is a worship leader and she loves Jesus. We can’t wait to see how the Lord will work in and through her these up coming months. 

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Our new volunteer Everine

Thank you for standing with us. 

We are beginning to raise money for a keyboard for the choir to use, as we keep borrowing one currently and sometimes its not available for us to use. For about $500 we can buy a good keyboard here in Uganda with a stand. If you would like to partner with us in such a way, you can give online at: www.locodi.org then send an email to info@locodi.org letting us know it's for the keyboard, or you can send a check with a note to: 

Loveworld Foundation, Inc.

PO Box 2139

Spokane, WA 99210

We always pray for you and trust that the Lord is keeping you. 

Wishing you a blessed February.

Thank You!

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Waiting. Whether it's waiting for water to boil or a president to retire, waiting can prove to be quite tiresome and trying. Wait for the rain. Wait for the meeting. Wait for the beans. Wait for the garden to grow. Wait for electricity. Wait for shops to open, fires to start, cows to cross the road. The other day we were almost "late" for church because we had to wait for a mother turkey and her young one who thought it their personal responsibility to make sure we missed the beginning of the service. There's waiting for the internet, waiting for the ATM, I mean like 86th in line kind of waiting, waiting for the road to get repaired, the document to get signed, the truth to be told, the nurse to wake up, the doctor to be found,  the chicken to be caught, the pork to be served, the tea to cool, Edimu to learn his letters. I could continue. As I write this I'm actually waiting for water to boil. And then I will wait for my porridge to cool. Did you know it actually takes 2 minutes for me to pour the entire contents of the kettle into the thermos? 2 whole minutes. Oh there is no waiting at traffic lights, but then there's the traffic jams that kind of make up for it. We had 6 doors made for our house in April. It's now October. Still no doors. We took the motorcycle for repair around the same time. We got it back last week, and yet we are taking it somewhere else to get it repaired again today.
Then there's the current thorn in my flesh, the water filter. I always promise myself as I put the empty water jug under the filter and let the clean water begin flowing that I will wait patiently nearby until it fills completely. I've even tried just sitting there staring at the thing, but then it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r...Easier said than done. How many puddles have I left on the floor this week?? Let me not confess the exact number.
What am I trying to say here? We wait. Whether we like it or not, whether it's easy or not, convenient or not, it is a part of life. Now days we're not so bothered to wait because of the introduction of the smart phone. Chances are that you are even reading this blog because you are waiting for something..Though we can still get slightly annoyed, we can be busy then even while waiting. Last night as I was waiting for dinner to get ready, (it was around 9pm), instead of hopping on the smartphone (if I sit for a minute the mosquitos under the table and hovering over the couch wreak havoc on my exposed feet) I decided to go outside and watch the storm roll in. The sky was full of flashes of lightening, clouds you could see were dark even in the dark and a nice strong breeze (that thankfully kept the incessant little insects at bay).
I just stopped to take it all in. Beautiful, terrifyingly beautiful. And it wasn't like the Lord suddenly spoke to me and I had an aha moment. No. I just got to enjoy the beauty of the moment. Just being in that moment, it did something to my soul, it restored something in me that I can't explain. I write this to just encourage you to try to experience the beauty in waiting. Nothing is wasted by our loving Father, so even time spent waiting is not wasted, but can be used by Holy Spirit to teach us, to mold us, to speak to us, to use us to speak to others. There's a song that has really ministered to my spirit concerning waiting over the last year by Kristene DiMarco called, Take Courage. In it she uses a the phrase, 'He's in the waiting.' Yes. He is there. Even in the midst of the waiting, He is there. In this busy day and as we head into this "busy" season. Let's encourage each other to slow down, listen and just be. Just take a minute to look around you, really look around you, and you might be surprised at what you see.

Bringing new life again

I (Beckie) had a plant in an old paint can, while I was away, there was this hard, long dry season. When we came back to Soroti there was only hard, dry dirt remaining in the pot, not a leaf to be seen, let alone a green one. So I thought to myself, let me start watering this dirt to make it soft again and then I can plant something else in it. About a week after I started watering, I saw something trying to peak out, it looked like maybe there was still something there yet. So instead of planting something else I just kept watering. Slowly by slowly, the leaves came back, beautiful leaves, green with splashes of white and pink and red, so full of life, so full in fact that I’ve transplanted them to an even bigger pot.

And our good Father knew enough that I needed that message and He chose that plant that was right outside my door, so every time I go in or out I am reminded of His sweet message, “I am in the business of bringing things back to life.” I share this with you because maybe you are feeling the same, maybe there is something you thought was dead, a dream, a marriage, a business, a friendship, but maybe,  there is still life there, and it could just need a little watering, or a little sunshine. A little time in prayer and in the Word. Our Father is an expert in raising from the dead, just talk to Him about it.

Last week we went to check on all of our students in the sponsorship program to make sure they are attending school and to pay their fees. I was able to share briefly with one class as we visited the students. They were so excited to hear from us and have also requested a purity club to come to their school. 

There is such a huge need for this and a hunger for the word of God but it has been challenging to recruit volunteers to help teach in all of the schools desiring purity clubs.

Please pray with us that the Lord would send out more workers, more Ugandans who are willing to live a life of purity and also teach about it in schools.
This past weekend we were able to meet with the students in our sponsorship program to give them school books.  We are happy for the partnerships that we have formed in town. One of the local Indian-run supermarkets donated a box of notebooks and a book shop gave us pens at a discounted price.

This helps us a lot as we are able to then even give books to kids who are still waiting to be sponsored.
Also we checked on our student Henry who is in his third year of training for construction. He was given a goat by his sponsor 2.5 years ago and they have now multiplied to 5. 

Soon he will be able to get a cow with some of these goats. We are proud of him for taking good care of them even while also being in school full time. This is so encouraging for us and him.

​The Men’s fellowship seems to be a big hit and the number of attendees keeps increasing each week. We can’t wait to see the impact of this fellowship in the lives of the men and their families in Soroti.
On a sad note, our faithful dog Muffin died. We don’t know the cause, possibly poisoned, but it was a big surprise. She was both friendly and tough. She always kept guard at night for us and warned us of anyone walking by. We had just gotten a new kitten and she tolerated her so well. She had been with us about 3 and a half years but was older than that as we inherited her from another missionary family.

She will be missed.

​
Construction on our house is coming a long. We hope to put the roof up over this next month.We are already praying through the house inviting the presence of God, declaring it a place of refuge, of new life, peace and joy in the Lord.

​Last but not least, if anyone would like to join a small group that is planning to come on a short term trip in October let us know and we will give you more details. The dates are from the 6th of October to the 18th. The tentative plan for this group is training different groups in soap-making, farming God's way, and jewellery making to help provide people with income generating activities. There are also opportunities for playing with kids and encouraging them, helping them with school work and sharing in purity clubs, and also to see what God is doing in Soroti.

Summarized Prayer Requests:

Family
-Health of family members

-Building - especially finances

Children in Sponsorship program

-spiritual growth

-more sponsors

Purity Clubs
-more volunteers who are willing to lead a pure lifestyle

-students to have strength and courage to commit to a pure lifestyle

Men's Fellowship

-more men would come and discover their calling as men of God

Also please keep praying for Soroti. There is still a drought and people are hungry. Pray for rain. Pray for multiplication of food and seed.

a wet noodle

I think one of the hardest things about coming back to America for some time can be summed up in the handshake. If you are American, then you've probably at some point in your life been taught how to shake a hand properly. Grab the hand firmly and look them right in the eye. You want to show everyone you are confident, self-assured, independent and strong. No wet noodle or fish handshakes allowed, those are only for the wimps, the cowards, the weak. Make sure you make a good first impression. We are taught to shake hands when we meet someone for the first time or when we haven't seen them in a long time perhaps, and you need that handshake to define the relationship, to prove that my handshake is as firm as your, I'm as strong as you are. Things are a little different here. Every time someone comes to our house they expect to be greeted with a handshake or a hug. It doesn't matter if they just came over yesterday. You still shake their hand today. And rarely do you get someone who will over squeeze your hand. And after the handshake you can keep holding hands as you finish up your greetings and inquiries about the family, etc... Actually you don't even have to actually shake the hand, you barely have to touch, but just enough to say that I'm with you, I see you, you are welcome. Greetings in this culture are so important, people are important, time with people are important. Things will still eventually get done but not at the cost of relationship, they will get done because of relationship. Everywhere you go there are people, walking up and down the street, whenever I go shopping in the market I have to take time greeting the people who are selling me their fruits and vegetables. Whenever I see someone I know, I must take the time to greet them. To touch my hand to theirs. Or they will wonder, why have I refused to greet them. Am I proud that I think I don't need them? So coming from this culture of greeting, community, relationships and going to the american culture of strength and independence can be really hard.  Do you realize that in america I can spend the whole day without even talking to anyone outside of my now house? Not just staying at home, because you can do that in any culture, but I can go the supermarket, I can go to the car in my garage, go to the super market, buy everything I need, checkout at a machine. And come back home all without having to talk to anyone. I have never gone to the market here without talking. I don't think it's even possible. Well...maybe possible, but people wouldn't be very happy about it. First I have to greet them, then I have to ask how much tomatoes are today, because it can change from day to day depending on what's in season.
It's hard stateside because people who we love are too busy, and we can even take a month to try to get together because of their busy schedule and then if we are lucky enough to get a meeting with them, they probably only have one hour or two hours or 30 minutes, and if they tell you they only have 15 minutes, then that's all they will give you. There are even some we failed completely to arrange a meeting in the 5 months we were stateside the other time. I know, crazy right? Well maybe not crazy to you, but crazy to us who are so used to taking time with people. Here we never know how many people we might be serving supper to. And we have to be ready with tea any time, because we want our visitors to feel welcome. And we get people who just stop by. People who just want us to pray for them or counsel them. Then we go back to the states. We know no one else is coming for dinner unless we invited them. We know that no one is just going to stop by and say hi. We know unless we work hard to schedule meetings with people we won't meet with anyone.
 That is why, even though we are so excited to be back stateside to see the people we love and to share what God is doing in and through us, we are also a little nervous and hesitant, because to be honest, it's hard. And to top that off, many people think while we are stateside we are on vacation, and yet for me, personally, it's the most challenging part of the work that we do. One, just the living in a different culture (How do you really choose one loaf of bread from the million options?) it is hard, then there's the asking people for money, not only the asking, but finding new people to ask, because, heck I've lived in a different world for 6 years and rarely have chance to meet new Americans, and if I do meet them, rarely do I have a chance to build a relationship with them.
I hope this doesn't sound like complaining, I'm not trying to complain. I'm just trying to express myself, to put down all these scattered thoughts in my head about why I'm hesitant to travel in just 10 days when I have so much to look forward to. Anyway, so if you managed to read this, because let's be realistic, many are too busy to read this, but if you managed, thank you for taking the time. And if you are willing to spend a little more time to pray for us as we transition to a different world and a different part of our work that can cause added stress, thank you. And if it's hard on me, imagine how hard it is on Ruudy who was born and raised and lived the last 30 years in this culture. And if I happen to see you, don't be afraid to give me a wet noodle or fish handshake, because I might just give you one too. And it might just communicate to me that I'm in this with you, I'm here for you. And that might be just what I needed to know.

untitled update

 The past couple months have been full. With both joys and sorrows. One, our aunt who had been fighting cancer for the last few years finally is finished suffering.

Our Aunt with some of her great nieces

She left behind 9 children and her husband. 5 of those kids are under 16 years and the husband is an alcoholic. Also, this year there is famine in the area, so they are having trouble getting what to eat. Please keep praying for this family.
Also, one of the former child soldiers from deep in the village that I had worked with and we also helped sponsor in school with the help of some one from the states, also died just a few weeks ago. We had received a call a few weeks before that that he was sick in the hospital, but were surprised to find out that that sickness led to his death. It doesn't sound like they even knew what was causing him to be sick. They just said they had to keep "adding blood" whatever that means. Health care in this country can be so frustrating and it's so sad to lose a young man like Emma when it seems so preventable. Keep praying for Emma's family, he was the oldest son of his single mother, so he was the one helping to keep her well.

Emma inside the house he was building for himself

In the beginning of August we had a team of 6 come for a visit. Teams. Well...it's hard to explain. We love having visitors, but it takes a lot of work. Teams are complex, and there's so much controversy over the effectiveness of short term missions, but they can also be so encouraging to us who live on the field day in and day out. We recently had a team from Kalamazoo/Ludington come for a trip. We started planning with them about a year ago. And after many Skype meetings, and schedulings and budgetings they finally arrived. And thankfully they were the easiest group we've had so far. Even though at the end of the day we are tired. You know how it's hard to feed a group of people something that everyone likes? Well, try doing it in a foreign country with foreign foods. Anyway, the team did a great job, they led a Vacation Bible School for the kids at Welcome Home Orphanage, one of them did a much needed marriage conference, they visited one of our purity clubs in Soroti and shared the gospel with them, they met LoCoDi sponsored kids and some sponsored kids in another program. They donated 51 Ateso bibles. They hiked waterfalls and had boat rides in the Nile.  Saw lions and giraffes and warthogs. They blessed others and were blessed. Those ten days came and went. Kind of like when you spend hours in the kitchen preparing a delicious meal and it's eaten all up in a few short minutes.
As much as teams are hard work, we love them. It's so fun to share our world with people who days before only had a social media sketch of what life is like in Uganda. And every one who has visited at some point usually has to say, "Now I understand why you have a hard time describing a 'typical' day here." We are encouraged when people get to meet the people that we are pouring out our hearts for and can see first hand the need for the work we are doing here. And when they go back to their comfy homes stateside they are different. They think differently, talk differently, spend their money differently, pray differently.
Also, through all of this Ruudy has been struggling with sickness. He has been feeling achey and tired on and off for over a month now. We treated several things, and tested more things, but haven't found out anything yet. From the blood tests we've gotten it shows that his body is fighting something, but telling what it's fighting is the problem.  He has a doctor appointment in the the states on the 28th of September and we will hopefully find out more then. We haven't bought our tickets yet but are looking at mid September to the end of November or beginning of December, depending on how we are coming along solving Ruudy's sickness.
 While we are stateside we would love to meet up with you. Maybe you've been considering a trip to Uganda for sometime or maybe the thought never crossed your mind until today. We would love to share with you more and see if the Lord leads you to come for a visit. But even if you are not interested in coming for a visit to Uganda we would still love to visit with you wherever possible.

Marriage Conference

Marriage conference participants

The Purity Club

Beckie greeting the students

The good samaritan

Some of the LoCoDI sponsored kids

Fun hiking

Fun on safari

no...she does not have an extreme fear of hippos

Our Team, just hanging out with the giraffes

The New Normal

After 6 years of life in Uganda I have achieved a new normal. Things that I used to be shocked by no longer shock me. Like, now days I can bravely and confidently, well mostly confidently, carry a plastic bag with 60 raw eggs packed in it through the crowded market without breaking even one. I used to be shocked when I would wait 2-3 hours for a meeting to start, and now I may be the one they are waiting for.

I used to be shocked, maybe disgusted is a better word, that people could enjoy popping large fried bugs into their mouth, and they would actually lose precious sleep to harvest said "bugs" late into the early morning hours. Now I love the white ants and I'm also there, alongside my family, catching them late into the night. I can find myself wondering when are they coming back into season, we've taken long without eating them. And no, we don't call them bugs, they are ants, not bugs. Bugs are not food. I used to be shocked that I only had the time and energy to accomplish one task in a day, now I'm shocked if I can manage to get three things done per day.
Now imagine me trying to prepare someone from the states to come for a visit. We have a team coming to visit the first week of August, and it's good we have an experienced team leader who will help prepare the team for their trip. Because by now I can even forget what it is that I should warn them about. I remember when I first came to Soroti, I was visiting a village church with some teammates, after the morning training we went to a local restaurant for lunch. My friend, who had lived in Soroti about 3 years by this point, ordered a dish called eboo, and was so excited about it I decided to get the same. One taste and I wondered...why in the world was she raving about such a "unique" dish, and yet now I cook it at least once a week...I no longer gasp when the power goes out in the middle of cooking, shopping, bathing, or any other somewhat inconvenient time to not be able to see anything. Gone are the days of valuing personal space. I used to wonder, when I was "obviously" in line at the bank, and someone would come and cut right in front of me, with a smile none the less. But now I know that unless my belly is brushing up against the back of the guy in front of me I am obviously not in line.

I don't think I should even go into driving, suffice it to say...no...let me not even try...though the phrase "Every man for himself" comes to mind. Hearing that a man has more than 40 children doesn't shock me nearly as much as it once would. Then there's the chasing after and the killing of your supper. The amount of people you can fit into or onto a vehicle. Think of your car. Most cars fit 5 people. Now, if a motorcycle here can carry 5 people or 8... what are the possibilities for a car, a van, or a truck? Endless.

I guess life is like that, what we get used to becomes the new normal. It's funny how weird, or disgusting, something can seem when we're not familiar with it, but with a little bit of time, and perhaps some effort, we don't even think twice about it. The ants in the bread, ants in the water, ants on my toothbrush and in my cupboard, wait, what ants?  I guess there is both positive and negative side affects of the new normal. On the positive side I can now live in this country very comfortably, and try to convince others from outside that they shouldn't be so scared of this place. Especially now days, as it looks more dangerous to live in the states then here...which brings up the negative side of the new normal...as I watch the disintegration of the country where I was born I wonder about what has happened. Isn't there some saying about a frog in a boiling pot?

An assortment of random thoughts / updates

The other day we were baby-sitting our niece Ellie as her brother was in the hospital with A-typical pneumonia.  She's all of 3 and half and just generally brings joy to the house. She had gotten dressed on her own and had put her shirt on backwards. I had told her about it once and then we were eating lunch and I noticed she still had it on backwards. I mentioned it again and we laughed. Then I told her that, "You know what Ellie, we can just leave it like that because that is not an important thing. We have to focus on more important things like Jesus and loving people." She agreed. So we left it like that. But the rest of the day I kept finding myself wanting to put it on her right, or I found myself wanting to explain myself to visitors, as to why I didn't bother about the way she was dressed. It made me keenly aware of the fact that I can too easily focus on things that don't really matter. The long of the short of it is it's just a t-shirt and if the kid's happy in it and not doing any harm to herself or others then it doesn't need to bother me either. I know there's some spiritual application here, but just having trouble putting it into words. Let's just focus on loving Jesus and receiving His love and giving that love to others. The rest...well...somehow it works it's self out...wait, i think there's a verse that says something about that....oh yeah,  "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Mat 6:31-32) So this is no new revelation, but I'm going to keep trying to put it in to practice more and more in my life.


Well...on a side note, we are enjoying Sarah as part of our family. It's hard to believe she joined us already more than 7 months ago. We still don't have her birth certificate, but we decided she was born on May 7, 2002. So at least now she has a birthday, which we celebrated since the last time we wrote. Without going into too much detail it has been a difficult transition for all of us, but over the past few weeks we could see some improvement in her behaviors and then a couple weeks ago she told us that she wanted to confess Jesus as Lord of her life and she is going to be baptized this Sunday at church. When I was talking with her she said she could really notice a difference in her life since confessing Christ. We are proud of her.

She has not had an easy time growing up, being passed around from relative to relative looking for her place. I (Beckie) have been homeschooling her for the past few months, and even though she is only at around a 2nd grade reading/math level, she is a determined, dedicated student and keeps improving. She is now able to read pretty well, she reads me the Jesus Story Book Bible every class, and though I help her with many words, she can now finish a whole story by herself where as before we would have to take turns because it would take her so long and she would get frustrated. Please keep praying with us for her. She's really a gifted singer and loves praise and worship, if we were in the states we could more easily see that talent developed, but not sure how to go about it here. Also we need wisdom as parents. Suddenly having a teenage girl is not the simplest thing we've ever done, but when we see the way God is transforming her before our eyes, it is so worth it.

We had two classes since I wrote last, Caring for God's People and Christian Stewardship. Both of them went on well. We had a good turn up for each and are looking forward to our next class this month, Teaching the Christian Faith. This past class when were meeting in our small groups we heard many testimonies of how God has answered our prayers in the lives of the students.

Two in my small group had us praying for them that they become debt free, and when they came back the next month, one had been able to pay off the debt and the other one finally got a job, so he was excited because soon he would be able to pay off his debt as well. There were some in Ruudy's group who also reported back on answers to prayers. It's so encouraging to hear back from the students during that small group time. During that small group time they also report on how the implementation of their action plans went.

For action plans for Caring for God's people, many people said they would go and visit such and such a person, maybe someone who they know has stopped coming to church, or a widow, or someone who has been sick for a while. It was powerful to hear back on how the visitations went. Some people received Christ, others are now coming back to the church, generally the people visited were encouraged, and thus our students were also encouraged.

Ruudy has not been feeling well for the last couple of weeks, feeling cold in the middle of the day, and the joints aching throughout. Please pray for him complete healing, and also wisdom for the doctor as he tries to figure out what the issue is. We have treated for a couple things just to be on the safe side, but so far haven't seen much, if any, improvement. It's frustrating for him to feel yucky and not know why.

We are excited that we have a small group from Kalamazoo coming at the end of this month. We don't get visitors from out too often so we certainly are looking forward to it. Please pray for them as they travel and spend time at the orphanage in Jijna and with the sponsored kids and purity clubs in Soroti. Some of them will be their first time to Africa.

Well if you made it to the end of this one, congrats to yourself, you survived my scattered thoughts. I wanted to make this update so perfect, you know, the kind that people actually respond to and you realize people actually do read these things, but then my mind couldn't focus very well and was running away with a number of thoughts and I had to just put them down as they come. And since I couldn't risk doing it later because then it might not get done at all... anyway, Such is life here most of the time, always running from one thing to the next, being pulled in so many different directions, and trying to remember to do everything that we need to do before being distracted by the next thing.
Oh and to add to that, we took some Welcome Home visitors on a boat ride the other day and saw a cool bird,

I guess it's called a Ross's Turaco. When it was flying it was even cooler, as it's wings have red on the bottom side. I was too in awe watching it fly that I even failed to use the camera to try to get a shot of it. We also saw a hammerkop, eastern grey plantain eater, ring necked dove, hadada ibis, pigmy kingfisher, woodland kingfisher, malakite kingfisher, pied kingfisher, night heron, great cormorant, african data, long tailed cormorant, sacred ibis, cattle egret, open billed stork, african fish eagle along with some monkeys and a few monitor lizards, it was a pretty good hour and a half.
This concludes this unpolished update. Interesting.