We finally made it safely to Hungary...after about 36 hours of travel! Somehow Lucy wasn't in the British Airways system, so that was complicated and expensive and then we missed our flight in London on to Budapest...but thankfully there was another flight later in the day. We are so thankful to Jesus to be here and be with family this Christmas!
We are getting to enjoy Christmasy weather too! It was -1F last night!!! We are frozen, but happy! :)
The girls are enjoying a lot of firsts! Snow, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, hot dogs, pears! It's really happy and kind of overwhelming at moments, but we really do love being here! We love our family so very very much! It's really great to be with Dan and Katy Beth and their girls these days! Jesus is so kind to us! Hallelujah! Praise God Forever!
21 December 2009
09 December 2009
Here We Go...
Billy is meeting with a friend for lunch.
This afternoon I teach Bible Study.
In about 18 hours we embark on a serious JOURNEY that will take us to three continents, four nations and more beds than we can count before we come back home in about 8 months!
We go with fear, trepidation, excitement and HOPE!
We go with JESUS!
The same God who called us here is going before us as we journey back to the States...and He is the provider God who will bring us back in His best time!
We go trusting.
We go hoping.
We go expectant!
HERE WE GO...
05 December 2009
Floods, Finals, Friends and a Funeral
Last week we thought it would be fun to try and spend part of the day together just as a little family at the local restaurant that is a hotel...that has a pool! We were really excited to go and as we packed the car with babies and bathing suites, realized there was a drip coming from the bathroom that became more like a rain storm...
when we went in, we saw the pool had come to us!
There was at least an inch of water on the floor and we had our family swim in the guest bathroom with buckets and towels.
Elsie Jayne thought this was great fun and told me to "tell the people who pray!"
She wanted you to join us in praising Jesus for our pool!
...Maybe just pray as Jesus leads you!
when we went in, we saw the pool had come to us!
There was at least an inch of water on the floor and we had our family swim in the guest bathroom with buckets and towels.
Elsie Jayne thought this was great fun and told me to "tell the people who pray!"
She wanted you to join us in praising Jesus for our pool!
...Maybe just pray as Jesus leads you!
Elsie Jayne bailing!
Our guys in Nebbi took their final exam for the year last week.
Here you can see the servant team as they share stories with Pastor James who traveled up from Kampala to evaluate them. These three men shared 19 stories that they have hidden in their hearts from the book of Mark!
Praise Jesus!
We are believing Him that His Word does not go out void!
There will be a harvest of souls in Nebbi district!
As we prepare to journey away from Arua for a while there are many good-byes to be said.
All of the pastors and their wives will come on Monday for a farewell meal together in our home.
This dear friend below is Dawama James.
He is an orphan from Sudan.
He has become a dear friend to our family.
The girls know him as "Uncle James" and he calls us Mama and Dad.
He has finished his secondary (high) school now and will go back to Sudan in January.
Will you pray that Jesus guides and protects our precious friend?!
and that he might be a LIGHT for Jesus in a dark land.
We went to our friend Jane's home this past week as well to say good-bye to her children.
Jonathan and Charis are great friends to Elsie Jayne and they were excited to get to carry Lucy!
Thanks to the TN team...we had a Bible to share with the children too and they were delighted to have Billy share a bible story with them.
Jane has just told us that Jonathan is a bit sick today...will you pray for Jesus' healing and protective hand upon this dear family?
Joanna and Jane
This is the market...where the rat got into the car (see previous post).But it is also the sight where we bought beans to take to Kisa Patrick's father's funeral.
It was an amazing event.
The most difficult and meaningful time for me was when the man leading the service had us all go and look for rocks to bring back so that we could pile them upon the mounded earth that had just become Isaiah's grave.
Many new friends asked how we bury the dead in America.
For some reason it was strange to me that we actually all worked together and buried this man...I am used to the cemetary workers coming along and doing that after I have been able to mourn in my nice clothes keeping clean and crying, but then leaving to go to the next thing.
We still have so so much to learn.
03 December 2009
A "Hot" Date with Billy Coppedge
When we reach transition points in life, it is natural to reflect on all of God's goodnesses to us in the past and plan and dream for the future He has for us! This has been a week of reflection and thanksgiving as we prepare to go to America for HMA (Homeland Ministry Assignment) for the next few months.
Our days have been full and Billy and I haven't been together much...unless it is with a lot of great friends, so we decided to make lemonade from our lemons and go together to Nebbi today. It wasn't the typical date...one of our pastors, Kisa Patrick has been praying for his father for the past month. He has been sick with what we understand to be throat cancer. Two weeks ago he met JESUS! And yesterday he saw Him face to face for the first time. So today, as our "hot date" we went to our first African funeral together.
We talked in the car on the way down about the past three years..."What were your highlights?" "What was the hardest day?" "What were your top three times you saw Jesus work?" Fun date, get to know your spouse better questions. Then, we went through the town of Uleppi and stopped at their market to get a gift for the mourning family. This is the town that Jeannie Banter was working in to disciple a group of farmers...so there was more reminiscing as we bartered for beans and charcoal.
Then...as Billy was getting a rope from the back of the car to tie the charcoal bag on top of the car...he saw a...RAT! In the car!!! Lucy was being amazing and just sleeping the back seat. At this point I shriek and pull her out of the car. This isn't our typical date...but it gets more exciting!! :(
A crowd gathers instantly to look at the white lady and her baby and figure out why she screamed. Lucy and I spent the next half hour getting to know some sweet ladies and kids and we got to share Jesus with the mom of a baby named Winn. That was the HIGHLIGHT of the whole date!
Billy and some neighborhood guys tried to find the rat. They see it in the car a couple of other times, but never see it leave the car. At this point we are late for the burial, so we decide to just trust we won't see it again and go. Lucy and I get back in... :(
We drive the rest of the way to Nebbi with no rat interaction...not so much laid back talking either. Now I am sitting in the back of the car with Lucy to guard her from getting her little toes nibbled by a rat and I'm a bit more tense!
We pick up six friends in Nebbi town and then proceed out to the village where our friend Kisa's family is from. This is two o'clock. We left Elsie Jayne with a friend in Arua, because for some reason we believed the people who told us the burial and funeral would be only two hours beginning at two o'clock.
Let me skip the details of the service...I'll share that another time I hope, as it really was a neat learning experience and I'm really glad we went (now that I am safely at home).
At six thirty!!! we finally got in the rat infested car to come home. Along with now eight friends! :) It gets dark here at seven and it's really not safe to drive after dark as it is difficult to see the many people who walk or ride bicycles along the road. Also, seven is Elsie Jayne's bedtime!! So, there is a bit of stress in the car as we finally leave Nebbi town and all of our passengers at seven exactly. But, I really want to make the most of this date as Billy is to leave in the morning for a wedding and will be gone the next two days. So, I sit in the front with him, praying Jesus covers Lucy and keeps the rat away.
We talk about the day and pray for the girls and the transitions ahead and then...I felt him. THE RAT! It crawled across my foot! I had sandles on and I just couldn't handle it. Billy stopped the car and searched for the evil critter again, but couldn't find him. Back to Lucy I moved and still...the rat is in the car, but we got Elsie Jayne from my friend's house and now both girls are sleeping peacefully.
The rat is still in the car. :(
Billy is such a love gift to me from Jesus and where he takes me on dates really isn't that important, but we did decide one GREAT thing we are looking forward to in America is taking a HOT shower and feeling clean (still no hot water here!) and then wearing clothes I feel pretty in (it is fashionable here to be fat...meaning you have enough money to eat well, so "nice" clothes are big frumpy missionary dresses!!!), and go somewhere in a clean-rat-free-car and eat food we actually choose and enjoy and talk about something other than the bubonic plague and malaria!
Dreaming...
Our days have been full and Billy and I haven't been together much...unless it is with a lot of great friends, so we decided to make lemonade from our lemons and go together to Nebbi today. It wasn't the typical date...one of our pastors, Kisa Patrick has been praying for his father for the past month. He has been sick with what we understand to be throat cancer. Two weeks ago he met JESUS! And yesterday he saw Him face to face for the first time. So today, as our "hot date" we went to our first African funeral together.
We talked in the car on the way down about the past three years..."What were your highlights?" "What was the hardest day?" "What were your top three times you saw Jesus work?" Fun date, get to know your spouse better questions. Then, we went through the town of Uleppi and stopped at their market to get a gift for the mourning family. This is the town that Jeannie Banter was working in to disciple a group of farmers...so there was more reminiscing as we bartered for beans and charcoal.
Then...as Billy was getting a rope from the back of the car to tie the charcoal bag on top of the car...he saw a...RAT! In the car!!! Lucy was being amazing and just sleeping the back seat. At this point I shriek and pull her out of the car. This isn't our typical date...but it gets more exciting!! :(
A crowd gathers instantly to look at the white lady and her baby and figure out why she screamed. Lucy and I spent the next half hour getting to know some sweet ladies and kids and we got to share Jesus with the mom of a baby named Winn. That was the HIGHLIGHT of the whole date!
Billy and some neighborhood guys tried to find the rat. They see it in the car a couple of other times, but never see it leave the car. At this point we are late for the burial, so we decide to just trust we won't see it again and go. Lucy and I get back in... :(
We drive the rest of the way to Nebbi with no rat interaction...not so much laid back talking either. Now I am sitting in the back of the car with Lucy to guard her from getting her little toes nibbled by a rat and I'm a bit more tense!
We pick up six friends in Nebbi town and then proceed out to the village where our friend Kisa's family is from. This is two o'clock. We left Elsie Jayne with a friend in Arua, because for some reason we believed the people who told us the burial and funeral would be only two hours beginning at two o'clock.
Let me skip the details of the service...I'll share that another time I hope, as it really was a neat learning experience and I'm really glad we went (now that I am safely at home).
At six thirty!!! we finally got in the rat infested car to come home. Along with now eight friends! :) It gets dark here at seven and it's really not safe to drive after dark as it is difficult to see the many people who walk or ride bicycles along the road. Also, seven is Elsie Jayne's bedtime!! So, there is a bit of stress in the car as we finally leave Nebbi town and all of our passengers at seven exactly. But, I really want to make the most of this date as Billy is to leave in the morning for a wedding and will be gone the next two days. So, I sit in the front with him, praying Jesus covers Lucy and keeps the rat away.
We talk about the day and pray for the girls and the transitions ahead and then...I felt him. THE RAT! It crawled across my foot! I had sandles on and I just couldn't handle it. Billy stopped the car and searched for the evil critter again, but couldn't find him. Back to Lucy I moved and still...the rat is in the car, but we got Elsie Jayne from my friend's house and now both girls are sleeping peacefully.
The rat is still in the car. :(
Billy is such a love gift to me from Jesus and where he takes me on dates really isn't that important, but we did decide one GREAT thing we are looking forward to in America is taking a HOT shower and feeling clean (still no hot water here!) and then wearing clothes I feel pretty in (it is fashionable here to be fat...meaning you have enough money to eat well, so "nice" clothes are big frumpy missionary dresses!!!), and go somewhere in a clean-rat-free-car and eat food we actually choose and enjoy and talk about something other than the bubonic plague and malaria!
Dreaming...
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