The elections are not over in Uganda...the process takes weeks from the Presidential position (two Friday's ago) to the local positions as well. Arua has a very important mayoral election on Wednesday this week. Also, the presidential election is not "over." Please read today's newspaper for more details! http://www.monitor.co.ug/
Thank you for carrying Uganda to Jesus
28 February 2011
18 February 2011
Mnaomba kwa Uganda! - You all pray for Uganda!
We are in school in Tanzania to learn "proper" Swahili and continue our quest to speak the most common trade language in East Africa fluently. Keep praying for our efforts. We are at a great school and we feel really thankful for our teachers and fellow students after one week, but we have much more to learn. Keep praying with us as we study another two weeks here and then go and "practice" what we have learned in Congo for another three weeks before returning home in late March.
The word in Swahili for pray is "omba."
That means literally to beg or plead.
There are theological issues to work through in any language, I guess!
Tonight though, we do write and ask you all to OMBA for Uganda.
Plead on behalf of the nation we have grown to love and call our home.
Jesus loves and cares for this nation so very much more...
Ugandans have been going to the voting stations all day to cast a ballot.
For news updates check out:
and
Some of our favorite Ugandans...Auntie Joyce and Uncle Mambo...we went together to a fun fair in town last week and they treated us to lollies and sodas!
03 February 2011
A Big Weekend
This weekend seemed like the Lord entrusted us with MUCH in a really short amount of time.
We are not sure why, but we sensed His presence through it all and we are SO GRATEFUL!
Thank you for your prayers even when we don't and you don't know ahead of time what is happening!
This is what Jesus kept us through and blessed us through this weekend...
One unique thing about where we live is that we have a gate...it's just "normal" in our neighborhood to have a fence around your yard and a gate at the entrance...so our place is just like our neighbors and those in the community where we live...we have a big gate. Friday our gate bounced off the back of our car and was smashed up enough that it would not close.
We had to take it off the hinges then and take it on the top of our car (where Billy is standing, ready to have it passed up to him) and get it fixed at the welders' shop.
The one thing we had planned was that on Friday afternoon the girls and I would go with my friend Jane to get her cassava. It seems her brother had helped her plant a field and it was time to go and reap the harvest. She had actually asked friends to go on Thursday and pick it all and we just sacked it up and carried it on top of our car the hour back to her house...so thankful she asked for the help. Otherwise she and friends were planning to carry it the same distance!!!
Elsie Jayne really enjoyed helping with the process.
She and Jane are dear friends!
Elsie Jayne wanted to take pictures again, so this is Lucy with some friends once we had arrived back at Jane's place. Azite David, Jane's son is there on her sister's lap. He is one of Lucy's best buddies right now.
Once we got home from Jane's village, we had to go back to the shop and get our gate!
Then the men came back with us with a generator and welded it back on to the hinges.
Saturday morning when we awoke we had no idea that the rest of our weekend would only get more exciting!
A friend had called weeks ago and asked us to come for a special worship service in Kampala. We didn't think we could go so far for one meeting. Then we got word we needed to help rearrange some mission vehicles and bring one up to Arua. Finally on Saturday morning we heard of friends who needed to get their children back to Arua from Kampala...we sensed all of this was coming together and we needed to go.
So, we traveled down for a quick weekend visit.
Thankfully in such a quick journey there was still time for yummy coffee...something we all enjoy
(don't worry Grammy, this is only milk!).
Happy times on the swings at a favorite restaurant in Kampala!
The worship service was so exciting!!!
Our friends Imam and Tina have been leading a children's ministry at their church.
The Church is called Healing Broken Hearts Church and the kids group is Next Generation Healers.
Classic Names!
Lucy made friends as soon as we arrived.
These two young men told the story of Joseph...Genesis 37-46. INCREDIBLE!
One told it in English while his friend translated into Luganda.
The group also performed dances and songs. It was all really beautiful and worshipful!
After Billy preached our friends Imam and Tina and their little daughter Angela were honored for their work with the children, teaching them Bible Stories and more!
It's campaign time in Uganda...leaving the city there are so many signs and banners supporting different candidates...but they are ALL OVER up here in Arua as well.
Will you pray with us for the elections?!
On the 18th of February we have a presidential election, followed by Members of Parliament and other offices throughout the following week.
We saw more than signs on our journey though...This guy was right out our window as we drove around the north side of Murchinson Falls Game Park on the road home...
Literally right out the window!
It's amazing to us as our kids grow that God has blessed them and us to allow us to live here.
This is her reality and she doesn't know any differently.
Please pray our girls live to LOVE Jesus with all their hearts, souls, and minds and that their mom and dad are a living example of such lives.
Thank you for your prayers when we guide you how to pray and on weekends like this...when we don't know, but Jesus still provides and keeps and blesses!
The Last Days of January
Auntie Joy Phillips was here for a visit and Sudan team meetings in late January. We had a happy time reading books too as well as praying for Sudan and seeking Jesus as to His way forward in the year ahead.
With a 99% vote for seperation announced things look more and more likely each day that Southern Sudan will be officially birthed as a nation later this summer. All of our immediate friends and pastors and colleagues are well...there is still fighting along the boarder where much of the nation's oil is located.
The 22nd and 23rd of January Joanna hosted another Women's retreat for the Arua Area Ladies Bible Study.
She had a great time praying for and planning the event!
She had a great time praying for and planning the event!
They women are studying the book of Esther just now,
so Joanna went with the theme and hosted a banquet at a local hotel on Saturday night.
The women jumped at the chance to REALLY dress up
and had a lovely banquet and time of studying the Word together.
The lovely ladies in attendance come from seven nations and
are all called of God to serve in and around the Arua area.
Please, as you pray for us, pray for them and their families.
That they might know and love JESUS more each day and might have His peace and hope and love for the people God has called them to be a LIGHT amongst.
Heidi Lettner is a dear friend who along with her husband Heinz, sense the Lord leading them to settle for a bit in Austria....we will miss them in Arua and the retreat was also a chance to say good-bye.
Billy and Elsie Jayne and Lucy had a happy weekend at home.
Even though we haven't had rain for a couple of months...the girls LOVE their gum boots and playing outside with their daddy!
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