He has dealt wondrously with us!

Reading this morning in Amy Carmichael’s “Edges of His Ways,” my heart was drawn to the call of Joel in 2:26… “Praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you.”
Today we simply must praise Him!!! He hath dealt so wondrously with us! We are saddened to have just said good-bye to our first team of volunteers. Our ten new friends from Indiana Wesleyan University were such a blessing to us and to the people we have come to love and serve here in Arua! From VBS with children at Uganda Christian University to loving on the missionary community we have joined here in town, the Lord dealt so wondrously to us through these men’s ministry! We praise His name.
Billy and John Rinehimer were to return to Arua today from Kampala. They prepared to come and just before they left discovered a major issue with the car that would have most certainly been a serious injury on the road, had Jesus not given them eyes to see the problem before they left. We are sad not to have them and the visitors they were bringing with us today, but we cannot fathom the love of Jesus, that He has dealt SO WONDROUSLY with us that He spared the boys lives. We praise His name!
Joanna has an interesting skin issue at the moment…she has scabbies, most likely picked up from playing with, holding and loving on kids the last couple of weeks. While we are not thrilled at the intense itching and burning all over, we are praising Jesus today that He has dealt so wonderfully with us, that this is not an issue that will affect our baby. He is so kind! We praise the name of the Lord our God!
Even our cutie pup Marori is sick! She has an interest skin rash herself. She has been quite sluggish the past couple of days. Tonight as Billy is still in Kampala with the car and we have no way to get her to the vet up here, we praise the Lord for His wondrous dealings with us, that the vet in Arua makes house calls!!! We never imagined! Even in the little “unimportant” realities of life, Jesus is being oh so faithful and kind to us!
Also we want to thank so many of you for praying for Christopher, our guard. We got to visit with him this week and while he is so much stronger and improving, he has aged quite a bit and his arm may never have full motion again. That is very upsetting to him, and while we are sad, we praise Jesus with Him for His wondrous dealings with us that Christopher is alive and continuing to heal. Thank you for praying with us!
We are also grateful for your prayers for Jeannie. Her arm has consistently improved since her bike accident and now she can fully straighten it! Please continue to pray that Jesus takes the pain that is involved with a lot of motion and lifting.

Continue praying with us that Jesus, even these days as we have visitors and are quite busy around our own home, that we will be His hands and feet and share His heart with those around us...particularly pray with us for our neighbors, Vincent and Jessica, Tom and Gertrude, and Simon and Gladis are dear friends. Pray that they might see His wondrous dealings and cry out to praise His name with us!

Truly the Lord has dealt wondrously with us, we praise His Holy Name!!!

A Long Delay

Dearest Family and Friends –
Many of you have wondered what African pathway we got lost exploring… the path through the last month has indeed been exciting but we finally are emerging. We were away from Arua for three weeks and thought we would have better email connections but honestly they were hard to come by. We returned only to promptly lose electricity for the week and that combined with some minor computer challenges was enough to “overcome” us. Forgive our delay but thank you for caring for us and praying so faithfully for the last month.

Our time in Kenya was fantastic. We were able to get in a few days of R&R which was a blessing from Jesus as well as attend a leadership conference specifically for missionaries. The conference was good but what we enjoyed the most was drinking coffee with some of our close WGM Kenya missionaries. It was a treasure to be in their homes, sit at their tables and just “be” together. You would have laughed at us though because there is a great coffee house in Nairobi (that has a Starbucks feel) and we just could not get enough! Funny the things you miss in AruaJ

One of our close friends is Staci Wells and she is working with abandoned babies at the Africa Gospel Church Baby Center. It was sheer delight to spend a Saturday holding and playing with Lucy and Mary Martha and 23 of their closest “friends.” We have a new appreciation for such joys.

Returning to Uganda, we had a doctor’s appointment for Joanna to have an ultrasound and meet with an OB/GYN. We trust all of you got our prayer letter but we pregnant and Joanna is due with a “baby girl” in November!!! We are so excited and trying to celebrate/prepare even amidst hosting our first mission team. They are a leadership team from Indiana Wesleyan University and we have had a blast with them. They have been a huge encouragement to our hearts as well as been a tremendous blessing to the community of Arua. After a few days of “retreat/orientation” in the game park they courageously planned and hosted a VBS which just finished on Friday. Children like Moses, Haman, and Hope all experienced the love of Jesus through ten college boys laughing, singing, dancing, performing dramas and valiantly trying to pick up greetings in the local language.

Please thank Jesus with us for all He has done for us in the last weeks. We are celebrating Kenyan Friends! Our first team! And A BABY! Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!

This morning (Monday) the team kicked off a missionary kid program. Everything from career day to water sports is planned and it will give them the opportunity to love on some of the missionary community here in Arua. Pray those kids can see Jesus in the lives of “cool college guys.” Friday John and Billy will drive the team to Kampala where they’ll have some shopping time before flying out on Sunday. We thank Jesus for your prayers this week for relationships and travels. Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!