Dear Friends - We realize the last post was some time back...a lot of life has been lived in those two weeks and we thank you for your dedicated prayers. The rest of our team did arrive and the days have included introductory visits to the market, the butcher, and furniture maker. We have also had many conversations already team planning and strategy. We can clearly testify that God has helped. We are realizing the size of task we have signed up for in birthing a new ministry in Northern Uganda. Please keep praying: for us as a couple, for us as a team and for the people God is bringing into our lives.
This last week we have had two unique opportunities to trust Jesus. Our volunteer, Jeannie Banter fell and broke her arm. She ended up having to fly to Kampala (Erica graciously went with her) to get the proper treatment. As of now, she will be there indefinitely until they are sure she can manage travel back to Arua. Then Thursday morning we woke up to find out Christopher, one of our guards, had had a stroke in the night. We rushed him to the mission hospital near by and they diagnosed him and began doing what they could. Friday he had improved but his right arm and eye remain damaged (to what extent we do not know yet). All that to say, we have spent a fair amount of time this week as a team in the hospital. Please pray for Jeannie as she desperately wants to be here and for Christopher's full recovery.
Today we go to Nebbi to meet again with the pastor and church leaders whom we had met on a previoius visit. They have invited several other pastors and so we are going to meet them and hopefully introduce ourselves a bit more and Africa Gospel Church. Please pray for traveling mercies, spiritual discernment and ears to hear.
Finally, on Monday several members of the WGM leadership team will be here in Arua for the day. They are flying up to visit and see Arua so we are excited to have them. Please pray our time will be profitable for the Kingdom and an encouragement for all.
Thanks for holding the ropes for us. Please don't let go.
31 March 2007
16 March 2007
The Team is Coming!
Typical Days…
They don’t happen. Normal is not so much routine as it is what keeps showing up on your daily list of things to do. We have our teammates arriving from Kampala this weekend and we are so excited. John and Erica will be staying in a house just over the hill from us and Jeannie Banter (a one year volunteer) will be living in a little guest house behind our place. This week has been filled with great opportunities to try and make things ready for their arrival. Our guards found a good carpenter for us to finish the mosquito netting in Jeannie’s house; an absolute must as malaria is very real and present. Jesus has provided Alfred and Joel, two strongly recommended guards for the Rinehimers’ house which is a tremendous blessing. Finding and employing guards has turned out to be a unique opportunity you don’t usually run into in the States. We are so thankful though for these full time guys and would ask that you pray for one remaining substitute we need.
Yesterday, Shane arrived from Kampala to see if he could figure out what was wrong with our vehicle. He is one of the main mechanics that WGM uses here in Uganda and he was the one who originally overhauled our vehicle. The good news is that he diagnosed the problem. The more good news is that while he has to return today, he’ll send up one of his guys up with the replace parts and tools so hopefully we have it running by the end of the weekend. Thank you for your prayers.
We want to give you a calendar of the next few days so you can be praying specifically:
Friday morning (hopefully): The furniture truck will arrive from Kampala with the team’s belongings and we are wrangling up some fellow missionaries to help unload.
Friday afternoon: The team will arrive midafternoon and we’ll try to get at least their beds set up. Also traveling with the team will be Jon Mayo (our director), Rick and Teresa Morse (both doctors working in Uganda for three months with WGM), and Pamela Ironside, a close friend of both Erica and Joanna who has some interior design background both Joanna and Erica are excited to put to work even in Arua.
Saturday: We will spend the day unpacking and getting settled.
Sunday: We’ll worship together as a team and Jon Mayo has requested some catch up and reporting time with the Coppedges.
Monday: Jon, Morses, and Pamela will all return to Kampala.
Friday (23th): We are planning our first Team Day… we’ll have a ½ day retreat and then ½ day initial strategy/vision meeting. PLEASE PRAY for God to meet with us.
We’d also particularly ask for prayer for traveling mercies and strength for transition, moving, and setting up our friends. Jesus has been reminding my from the end of Joshua that God always keeps His promises. In many ways, these days are the fulfillment of many of His promises! Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!
Billy & Joanna for the A-Team
They don’t happen. Normal is not so much routine as it is what keeps showing up on your daily list of things to do. We have our teammates arriving from Kampala this weekend and we are so excited. John and Erica will be staying in a house just over the hill from us and Jeannie Banter (a one year volunteer) will be living in a little guest house behind our place. This week has been filled with great opportunities to try and make things ready for their arrival. Our guards found a good carpenter for us to finish the mosquito netting in Jeannie’s house; an absolute must as malaria is very real and present. Jesus has provided Alfred and Joel, two strongly recommended guards for the Rinehimers’ house which is a tremendous blessing. Finding and employing guards has turned out to be a unique opportunity you don’t usually run into in the States. We are so thankful though for these full time guys and would ask that you pray for one remaining substitute we need.
Yesterday, Shane arrived from Kampala to see if he could figure out what was wrong with our vehicle. He is one of the main mechanics that WGM uses here in Uganda and he was the one who originally overhauled our vehicle. The good news is that he diagnosed the problem. The more good news is that while he has to return today, he’ll send up one of his guys up with the replace parts and tools so hopefully we have it running by the end of the weekend. Thank you for your prayers.
We want to give you a calendar of the next few days so you can be praying specifically:
Friday morning (hopefully): The furniture truck will arrive from Kampala with the team’s belongings and we are wrangling up some fellow missionaries to help unload.
Friday afternoon: The team will arrive midafternoon and we’ll try to get at least their beds set up. Also traveling with the team will be Jon Mayo (our director), Rick and Teresa Morse (both doctors working in Uganda for three months with WGM), and Pamela Ironside, a close friend of both Erica and Joanna who has some interior design background both Joanna and Erica are excited to put to work even in Arua.
Saturday: We will spend the day unpacking and getting settled.
Sunday: We’ll worship together as a team and Jon Mayo has requested some catch up and reporting time with the Coppedges.
Monday: Jon, Morses, and Pamela will all return to Kampala.
Friday (23th): We are planning our first Team Day… we’ll have a ½ day retreat and then ½ day initial strategy/vision meeting. PLEASE PRAY for God to meet with us.
We’d also particularly ask for prayer for traveling mercies and strength for transition, moving, and setting up our friends. Jesus has been reminding my from the end of Joshua that God always keeps His promises. In many ways, these days are the fulfillment of many of His promises! Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!
Billy & Joanna for the A-Team
08 March 2007
Around the Table
(Simon with His "Extended" Family)
This last week has been filled with terrific opportunities to have people in our home as well as visit some of our new friends. Last week we felt impressed to invite one of our guards, Simon and his family, over for supper. He and his wife Beatrice have three children but then as with almost every Ugandan family we’ve met, they have several other dependent children staying with them. So there were a total of nine kids, dressed like they were going to church and very shy. Joanna served pizza and watermelon, thinking that would be a fun happy meal but none of them (including the parents) had ever had pizza and because watermelon is not grown locally, most of them had never had watermelon! They were gracious though and we felt like Jesus really ordered the time together.
(Christoher and Family in front of their house)
Then on Friday, we went and visited our other guard Christopher and his family. They could not have been more kind and while we had specifically indicated we just wanted to visit and not be a burden, they of course prepared a tremendous meal of liver, rice, potatoes, chapatti (like a tortilla), even a veggie omelet with popcorn and peanuts as appetizers and sweet almost donut-hole-like cakes for dessert. Their house is indeed a thatched hut, but it was spacious and cool and while simple, it felt like a home. The conversation with Christopher and his oldest son, Daniel, was the most enjoying and as always, those occasions are fantastic for hearing their account of Uganda’s history and challenges.
Saturday turned out to be a blessing because an old college friend, Aaron Heinrich, spent the day with us. He and his wife, Corrie along with their two girls, are serving Jesus in Sudan. We had a great time catching up and swapping stories and comparing notes on Uganda and Sudan. He seemed to really enjoy a more low-key day and we are so thankful to Jesus for his encouragement and friendship.
On Tuesday of this week we had our neighbors, Simon and Gladys, over for supper. They have really reached out to us, sending over food when Joanna was not feeling well and just helping out with getting us settled. Simon is a mechanic for the UN and so while they are very Ugandan, they have been around international folks and did not seem as overwhelmed by us. We are having a bit of vehicle trouble at the moment (which is a prayer request) so Simon even offered to take a look after supper. Needless to say, we had a very enjoyable evening and we thank Jesus for His bring Ugandan friends into our lives.
We are finding that hospitality is one of the ways Jesus has given for not only meeting people but also getting to know them and their families. We are so thankful for how He seems to order each week and the contacts for each day. We never know quite who we’ll meet or how the day will unfold but He continues to be faithful. We would ask for special prayer this week and next as the rest of our team, John and Erica Rinehimer along with Jeannie Banter, are moving up to Arua on Friday, the 16th. We are so excited to have them but there is much to do both on their end in Kampala to pack up as well as for their arrival and settling in here in Arua. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. We really sense that many are standing with us. Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!
Billy & Joanna Coppedge
Saturday turned out to be a blessing because an old college friend, Aaron Heinrich, spent the day with us. He and his wife, Corrie along with their two girls, are serving Jesus in Sudan. We had a great time catching up and swapping stories and comparing notes on Uganda and Sudan. He seemed to really enjoy a more low-key day and we are so thankful to Jesus for his encouragement and friendship.
On Tuesday of this week we had our neighbors, Simon and Gladys, over for supper. They have really reached out to us, sending over food when Joanna was not feeling well and just helping out with getting us settled. Simon is a mechanic for the UN and so while they are very Ugandan, they have been around international folks and did not seem as overwhelmed by us. We are having a bit of vehicle trouble at the moment (which is a prayer request) so Simon even offered to take a look after supper. Needless to say, we had a very enjoyable evening and we thank Jesus for His bring Ugandan friends into our lives.
We are finding that hospitality is one of the ways Jesus has given for not only meeting people but also getting to know them and their families. We are so thankful for how He seems to order each week and the contacts for each day. We never know quite who we’ll meet or how the day will unfold but He continues to be faithful. We would ask for special prayer this week and next as the rest of our team, John and Erica Rinehimer along with Jeannie Banter, are moving up to Arua on Friday, the 16th. We are so excited to have them but there is much to do both on their end in Kampala to pack up as well as for their arrival and settling in here in Arua. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. We really sense that many are standing with us. Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!
Billy & Joanna Coppedge
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)