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!

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.