From Arua...

Just to update you on the last few exciting days!!!...Our friend Hailey Heinrich turned five last week. She threw a fabulous party and got braids in her hair of her favorite color...orange!
Hailey, Gloria, Eden and Elsie Jayne above.

At Hailey's party...our friends Tao (on Elsie's lap...he's a new friend who's mom is from Rwanda and daddy from Austria). Also pictured is Mary, looking away...she is Sudanese, and Lynda, Tao's mommy with Rosie on her lap and Hailey smiling big!

We have a team coming in November from Tennessee and we are so excited!
Elsie Jayne helped me last week go into town and sort out some of the details for this team...
on the way we ran into some ants...
lots of ants.

the ants all the way across the road...they stretched on forever!
and sadly enough we did both get these biting ants in our pants...not fun!

Last Sunday Billy went to Pastor Opio David's church.
He is the man in the middle in the red shirt.
This is his church family.
If he's the pastor you chose to pray for...THANK YOU!
The girls had to stay home as we are fighting some colds/flu weirdness.

Our next door neighbor and friend, Gertrude welcomed us a couple of days ago for Emmanuella's first birthday celebration. She is Gertrude and Tom's fifth girl and she just turned one!

Elsie Jayne "teaching" Emmanuella how to open the flaps on her cool book!

Precious Emmanuella wasn't sad at all to recieve Elsie Jayne's hand-me-down Ale 8 sippy cup!
Elsie Jayne did snatch it back for a tutorial as well...we may have a teacher (or just a big sister) on our hands!

Birthday Cake!!!

Our sweet little ladies...thank you for praying for all of us and supporting us in more ways than we can count...we are so thankful to Jesus for all of you!!!!
Hope you had a fun week too!

The Sudan Safari

So we are now back in Arua but in mid-August, many of you all were praying for us as I left Joanna and the girls in Nairobi after our meetings and headed to Sudan. Some have heard us discuss Mango Ministries (MM), which is the name of the World Gospel Mission work in Sudan. We want to keep it in front of you so you can begin to better understand our Sudan work. Mango Ministries' burden is to 1.) put down deep roots; 2.) bear fruit; and 3.) multiple the harvest. South Sudan is covered with mango trees and we believe God has focused our team on praying for, working for and believing that Sudanese communities can be transformed by the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Our team consists of our Country Leader - Joy Phillips, Reuben Kiurir, Joseah Sang, Joanna, and myself. In early August, our Mango Ministry team got together so all our family members could meet each other. It was great for all of us to put names and faces together.
MM has narrowed its' focus to three areas: 1.) assisting medical facilitaties in Sudan in anyway possible; for example, medicines, volunteer personal, etc.; 2.) community development wherein our team partners with the Sudanese community to address issues on their hearts; 3.) discipling & training Sudanese Church leadership.
MM is partnering with a mission hospital in Werkok, which is outside Bor, Sudan. We visited just briefly but it was great for me to see the hospital and begin learning about the Dinka tribe - the largest in South Sudan. They are cattle people and their "cow houses" are bigger than their own!
The needs of ever community are overwhelming. HIV is a huge issue and gets very difficult when cultural practices encourage transmission.
We traveled by chartered plane as the infrastructure is very... African. The second hospital we visited is between Yirol and Rumbek, located in the town of Akot. Akot Medical Mission has graciously partnered with MM, allowing our team to use the sizable hospital compound as a home base for working out in the surrounding communities. While the regular diet is beans and rice, one elderly woman blessed our team with a Dinka meal: greens in groundnut (peanut) sauce, tomato salad in a groundnut sauce, roasted goat, a goat and okra-like gumbo, a thin sour bread used for picking up food and sopping up sauce, fresh onions, and fluffy biscuits (probably due to the Arab influence). The kind woman's nephew (the one standing) was named Barnabas and he is one of Sudan's "famous" lost boys. We met several on our safari and each one had a fascinating story.
The journey for me was a great experience and the contacts and initially interactions with people on the ground was very positive. Reuben and Joseah have remained over the last month, continuing to research, interview, and assess the needs in the area. Prayer Requests: 1.) Strength, protection, communication for Reuben and Joseah on the ground 2.) Divine wisdom in decision-making of which communities MM is to begin partnering with 3.) a possible Church Leadership conference facilitated by MM team for Sudanese pastors October 21-24
4.) Spirit-filled Sudanese who understand the Scriptures and have a burden for their own

Thank you for praying for me. Thank you for praying for Joanna and the girls. We appreciate your standing in the gap and hold the ropes for us as we seek to follow Jesus into greater areas of South Sudan.

A Dream Fulfilled

Have you ever had one of those days?! "This is what I was made for." "I can physically see what God's hand has done!" Or as The Rookie says, "We are living the Dream."

Yesterday was one of those just incredible days for our family!

Billy and I will often look at one another and remind ourselves LTD or we are Living the Dream...this is what we always dreamed of doing...serving Jesus in Africa...sharing Him is our daily responsibility(as if it weren't everyones!) But you know what we mean. We often say this to encourage one another when we have a hard day...remember, this is what we always dreamed of or hoped for, but yesterday was not a hard day at all...allow me to explain.

We have been working alongside some pastors in Nebbi for three years now. The first year, if you recall we were just discipling a small group of men. About four. That expanded into an official Africa Gospel Church training the next year. Finally this year we have sensed Jesus leading us to begin Orality...Oral Bible Storytelling with our pastors. Throughout the past few months we have been encouraging them to be telling the stories they are learning with someone else and challenge that person in their walk with Jesus.

Yesterday we took the girls and went to Nebbi for the day to meet with those that our pastors have been discipling. It was such a surreal feeling to hear "third generation" story-tellers stand up and annimatedly share the gospel stories! Jesus is so kind to let us have that priveledge.

Please keep praying with us though...what good is a story if a life is not changed. These stories...the very Word of God, has the power to change lives...will you pray that it does not go out void as these story tellers continue to share among their friends and neighbors?

*We praise Jesus the rains have begun. While we were away AGC was able to share seed with those who serve in Nebbi and their congregations. Then we all just kept praying for rain. It has come!!! Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!

*Elsie Jayne and Lucy(and their parents) praise Jesus for a fun holiday with their Coppedge Grandparents!! They had a tea party this morning with a tea set Grammy got for them and wanted to welcome you all!

*We praise Jesus for nearly four months of life for precious Lucy. She awoke this morning with mosquito bites on her face...I'm afraid there was a mosquito in her net last night...will you pray Jesus protects us all four from malaria!

*We PRAISE JESUS for our fabulous teammates the Heinrichs who worked with the pastors in Nebbi to ready them for their examination the last two days and did a wonderful job!

I'm sorry to say we forgot the camera yesterday, so don't have any great shots of Nebbi...just imagine these pictures of the girls with our pastors hugging on them! They surely are loved! We are very grateful to Jesus for so many Aunties and Uncles around the world!

We're Back On Line!

Thank you for praying for us and missing us! That means a lot. Someone out there actually reads this and then prays for us, because I have heard from many of you through email...where are you. We JUST got back on line.

Jesus has led us all over Africa! We were in Nairobi, Kenya for a couple of weeks as we met with our Sudan colleagues and prayed together and prepared for the work there. Then Billy went to Sudan and the girls and I waited in Nairobi and had the privilege of meeting with friends and colleagues there. Jesus really blessed the time in Sudan for Billy and our colleagues Reuben and Josiah are still in country and we do ask for your continued prayers for them! They will return to Kenya in October. Pray as well for Joy Phillips as she continues to lead that work!

From Kenya we were able to meet Billy's parents in South Africa for holiday time! What a rich blessing from Jesus those days were! We are so grateful Elsie Jayne now knows her Grammy and Grandpapa! Lucy was learning to smile then and that was a happy reality to share together!

Back in Uganda, we stayed in Kampala for some field meetings and sensed Jesus leading there as well. We are excited about how the Lord is working in Nebbi as we are attempting to use the tool of Bible Storytelling and it seems Jesus may open the door to use this tool more extensively throughout Uganda and Africa Gospel Church!

Now...we have reached home and today Billy is in Nebbi with our pastors for their second evaluation of the year. Pray with me that Jesus might strengthen Billy and the others we have welcomed as evaluators as well as our pastors. Pray they might represent well the things they have learned and as they go out to do "field work" for their evaluation team...that those in the area might meet Jesus Christ...even today!

Thank you for joining us on this love adventure with Jesus. He is so kind to bring us home safely. We realized a week or so ago...Arua really is home to us. There is nothing like traveling for five weeks to remind you where your home is...and we praise Jesus that over the past three years, He has truly made this place home!