Please Pray that our Yukon will Sell

We have been trying to sell our Yukon XL for over 2 months now with no progress. I wouldn't be in a rush except that I am having to pay $85/month for insurance and this seems like a waste of money.

It is a 2000, GMC Yukon XL with 95,000 miles in case you know anyone that might be interested. It is currently in Knoxville. I was asking $10,000 but have lowered my bottom price to $9,000.


Thanks,
Kevin

Death of a Vision

When we were at Mission Training International (MTI,) we had a day that was devoted to teaching about soul care and solitude with God. A portion of the day was dedicated to a time for each of us to go and find a place of solitude to spend time alone with God. We were informed during the morning that we would have time in the afternoon to go out somewhere in the beautiful mountains of Colorado Springs. I immediately knew my destination. We were in our third week of training and throughout our training at MTI, I had enjoyed an incredible view of a mountain bluff outside of the window of our training room. It was probably only a mile or two away but almost straight up. As soon as they announced the afternoon plans, I made up my mind that my destination was the top of the bluff…a place where I purposed to meet God.

When the afternoon arrived, I came prepared in my hiking boots and with a supply of water. Our only instruction was that we were not to take a Bible or journal and that we were to allow God to speak to us in whatever way that He purposed. The time came for us to leave the conference room and head out alone to meet God. In order to get to the bluff, we needed to cross some railroad tracks. As I climbed the hill towards the tracks, I could see a very long train quickly approaching and realized that I would not be able to beat it to the crossing. The train began passing by, but then stopped on the tracks blocking the path. I was already in a quandary. Should I wait on the train? Was God telling me that I had selected the wrong destination? I prayed a quick prayer and felt that I was to press on toward my goal. So, I started walking toward the rear of the train in hopes of crossing. As I was about a half-mile down the path, the train began to move forward again and I was eventually able to continue my journey to the top of the mountain bluff.

There was not a path up the bluff and I was required to make my own way. Much of the climbing was through heavy brush and small scrub trees, and other times it required climbing over huge rocks and boulders. I was working quickly and with purpose, because we did not know how much time that we had for this exercise, and I wanted to get there as soon as possible so that I would have time alone with God. Having just left sea level altitude in Florida and now trying to climb at an elevation of greater than 7,000 feet, I was having trouble with my breathing. At one point, I stopped on top of a large rock (at least 20 feet tall) and sat down to rest and drink some water. I was probably about half way on the journey and about a third of the way up the face of the bluff. As I was sitting there, I stopped to pray again and ask God if there was anything that He wanted to show or tell me. God was faithful to speak. In my spirit, He spoke that all of this time alone with Him was to seek Him and hear from Him. I had set out with a destination and purpose that I contrived. I was not spending time with God as I hiked. Rather, I was waiting for my destination, the top of the bluff, to be with God. He showed me that this is often how I approach life: pressing on toward my goals and setting parameters on where I will meet God and spend time with Him. This certainly does not fit the biblical model found in John 15 of abiding in Him. I can be so goal-oriented that I forget about relationships with people and even God. I sensed Him telling me to be still and stop working so hard to get to the top of the mountain. I sat down and I began to pray. As soon as I called out to God, a strong cool breeze began to blow. The wind had not been blowing any during my hike, but God was already bringing refreshment and comfort in Him. I sat and prayed with my eyes closed for about 10 minutes, and then began to stand and pray with my eyes opened. Though, I was not at the top, I already had a wonderful view of the valley below. I began to praise the Creator of the Universe for His handiwork and allowing me to be in such an incredible place. God showed me that He was with me always, and not just on the mountaintop. He showed me that I needed to slow down and wait upon Him. He showed me that I needed to be more concerned with relationships than with my goals. I died to my vision of reaching the top and decided that God had not led me to go to the top, but that getting to the top was my plan.

After a few more minutes, I began to sense that I needed to move to another place. I prayed and sensed that God said “to just go where I lead you and observe My creation along the way.” I was excited and expectant because I was truly trying to hear and discern God’s leading. Because I had given up on reaching the top, I thought that God would give me something even better. I imagined finding a mountain lion skull or possibly an Indian artifact like a large arrowhead or piece of pottery. I was meandering through the brush and climbing rocks, watching for lizards, birds, and other wildlife and keeping my eyes on the ground for a great discovery. I had no destination and was really trying to sense God’s leading. I did this for about 30 minutes, and without realizing it, I was at the base of the last bluff, almost to the top. I looked up the last 100 feet of mountain and asked God if I should go up. I sat down in a crevice and began to pray again. I wasn’t sure what to do. God had already asked me to die to reaching the top, but here I was so close. I decided that He had already spoken and even though I was so close to my goal and my purposed destination that I would stop. It was cool and comfortable in the shade of the crevice, and I thought of this as a hiding place. While I was praying, I thanked God for what He had been showing me while on my hike. He was faithfully speaking, leading and with me all the way and not just on the top. As I was praying I asked God if could go the top. I sensed God speaking: “Yes, my son. You may go to the top. It is I who created you and placed in you the desire to reach the top. It was Me who placed this purpose within you. Just know that I am with you always, not just on the mountaintop”.

I ascended rapidly to the bluff and climbed out on a large rock along the edge. I was sitting in the shade of a large pine tree that somehow had managed to survive the harsh environment of the mountain. I praised God and thanked Him for allowing me to get to the top. I thanked Him for speaking to me and guiding me. I was so grateful to have dwelt with God throughout the journey and not just at the final destination.

I began to ask God what all I was to learn from this time. He reminded me that my life has often had visions that had to die. You may be familiar with the concept of the birth of a vision, the death of a vision, and the resurrection of a vision. God showed me that my original vision to reach the top was based both on my own goals as well as God’s desire. I had to die to achieving my goals and my purposes so that God could resurrect/rebirth with His way. This is a scriptural principal that is found in the lives of Abraham, Joseph, the disciples and many others. Abraham had a vision of being the father of a great nation. The vision was from God, but his expectation of how God would fulfill it was from Abraham and needed to die. Joseph had a vision of being a ruler, but that vision died when he was sold into slavery and later thrown into prison. The disciples had a vision of ruling with Jesus, their coming King. However, their vision died when Jesus was crucified and buried. All of these people had a vision that God had given them, but each of them had to die to their expectations. God was faithful and fulfilled each of the visions, but in a way that would glorify Him and reveal that He and He alone had accomplished it.

I share this because God appears to be doing that in our family’s life right now. We have a vision, which we believe is from God, to help orphans, disciple university students, and bring economic opportunities to the Ugandan people. However, we also came with expectations of how God would accomplish these works. We are daily dying to our expectations and still learning to wait upon Him. God will fulfill these things in His time, for His glory, as He resurrects that which appears to be dead.

Our Great Shepherd, Jesus, is faithful to speak to His sheep, and we can hear His voice and know that it is Him. He guides us, leads us, and protects us. He alone is worthy of our lives, our devotion, and praise.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

I haven’t been updating much because I keep waiting to report some progress. However, progress comes very slowly in Uganda, and I have to redefine my expectations of productivity and efficiency. We still haven’t moved into our house because our container has not been released. We cannot get our container released until we apply for our work visa. However, we cannot apply for our work visa until we get one more signature from the Baptist Mission of Uganda, who will now be processing our work visa. So…we wait. We do that a lot now.

In the meantime, we are getting the entire interior of our house painted. It is moving along nicely and looks very nice. All of the homes here are white on the inside and white on the outside. It seems strange since Africans seem to enjoy color. However, they don’t use color in their homes.

We met an incredible lady yesterday, Mrs. Suruma. She is Ugandan and started a Christian secondary school (high school) nine years ago. She has 150 students, and over 90% of them are orphans. She has a dorm and classrooms and is paying for almost the entire thing herself. She gave an incredible testimony of how God lead her to do this and how He keeps providing for them to continue to keep the school running. The school is right next to our house and the Suruma’s house is on the campus. Our boys’ favorite classmates are the sons of Mrs. Suruma and will be 100 yards away. We were so excited to meet her and hear God’s calling on her life. We are praying to see if God would lead us to be a part of her work, especially since it is primarily orphans.

We are being advised to get a fulltime armed guard for our home for at least the first few months. New mzungus are often the target of crime and we can help set a tone that our home is secure by hiring a guard. We are praying about how to proceed with this and how much guard work is required.

We visited an international church on Sunday evening and had a good time meeting other missionaries from the States. The boys really liked it and made some new friends.

We had a nice surprise yesterday when we got an email from two of our classmates from Mission Training International. Scott Ickes and Stephanie Jilcott are in Kampala for two days with their team from Western Uganda. We had dinner with them, and were able to visit and pray together when our boys were not interrupting. They get so excited whenever there are white people to talk with.

Finally, whenever Tennessee beats Bama it is cause for celebration, even if the victory margin is narrow. Tell Brian Rhodes congratulations on the birth of his new daughter and condolences on another loss to Phil Fulmer. I think this makes Phil’s record against Alabama 11-3. I know how much the Alabama folks hate Phil, similar to the Vols distain for Steve Spurrier.

Praise and Prayer Needs

We have much to be thankful for and we want to acknowledge our Great Provider! I know that our testing is not over and that God will continue to refine us as silver and gold in His crucible. We desire to remain moldable as clay and desire also that we will be clean vessels for His work and His honor. It does appear that there was significance in the 40 days since the 40th day was the day that God returned Pamela’s bag and it was also the day that we found our home. We have not rushed forward with the house and have continued to pray and wait upon Him. We feel strongly that this is God’s provision and we will be signing a rental contract today. We were able to negotiate to $1350/month, which was also an answered prayer. We are very excited about having a home. We took the boys by to see the house for the first time on Saturday, and they were so excited! They didn’t get to see the inside, but they loved the yard, front porch, and the rooms that were visible through the windows.

We cannot move into the house until our container is released from customs, and we cannot get custom’s clearance until our work visa is submitted and stamped. This is very complicated right now because we are praying about how to submit our work visa. We had planned to submit our work visa through Makerere Community Church (Martin Ssempa’s church), but are considering a different option that we are praying about. We have been staying at the Baptist Mission guesthouse, which is run by IMB missionaries (Southern Baptist). They have invited us to pursue getting our work visa through them. This would place us under their authority, but would also allow us to continue to work with Martin’s church. We have discussed everything that we can think of, and we have no disagreements in approach or doctrine. We probably need to make a decision this week and are fasting and praying as we seek God’s face. We have been so encouraged by the IMB missionaries and leadership teams that we have met here. We have met over half of the IMB missionaries in Uganda and have enjoyed our time with all of them. It really seems as though God has us in this guesthouse for six weeks in order to make these relationships. We have been praying about this for four weeks, so we have not made a hasty decision. We believe that what originally appeared to be delays were actually God’s protection.

We know that God has a work for us here and that even as we left the States it was not totally clear what all that we would be doing. We felt much like Abraham as we left our home and family to go to the land that God would show us. We are trying to follow Him each day as He guides us…neither lagging behind or rushing ahead. We really, really desire to find Him and His will. God has been faithfully speaking, guiding, and leading, and though it is not easy right now, we know that He is here with us and went before us. Please join us in praying that God will make His way clear and that as we seek Him that we will find Him.

We are so grateful that we have had some phone calls from America. We have spoken with Tony Gibson, Pamela's dad, and the entire Shelton Family.

I Once Was Lost But Now I'm Found

Yes, just like Pamela's suitcase. We just returned from picking it up at the airport. All of the contents appear to still be there, though the suitcase itself looks like it has been through a war. It had been sent to Aberdeen, UK by mistake, but God lead them to it. We are so thankful that God chose to return it. Praise Him for all things great and small! "You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say, Lord Blessed be Your Name."

Also, another huge praise. We think that we have found our new home! It has not been finalized, but we have looked at it twice and are ready to close the deal. We really like the house and it is everything that we have prayed for: large yard, big driveway, 5 bedrooms, nice kitchen, and clean bathrooms. It is a very pretty home and even has a modest view of the lake from the master bedroom balcony. The owner is in Malawi and we need to work out the final details with her. We are praying that we can negotiate a very good price.

I have to run now, but hope to provide more updates later. I must mention,though, that today makes 40 days since we left the states on September 4th. Maybe we really were enduring 40 days of testing and this was the time for God to reveal Himself through His wonderful provision. Thank you all for your prayers in these things. Lets all join in giving thanks to the God who brings salvation and deliverance to those who wait upon Him.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

We were sad when we learned two days ago that my maternal grandmother passed away this weekend. It is hard to not be there for the funeral, and especially to be with my mother. God was gracious by allowing my mom to be with her mom in her last hours, which allowed her to talk with her and pray with her. She shared that my grandmother was praying for others, even in her last hours. We are praying that God will provide encouragement, comfort, peace, and grace to all of our family during this time.

We continue to look for a house. We decided yesterday that we needed to expand our search area, in spite of the advice that some were giving us. We began looking yesterday in a village called Bunga. It is closer to Lake Victoria and about 10 minutes from the boys’ school, and also about 10 minutes further from town. We had looked at one house 4 weeks ago in Bunga, but did not feel that it was in a neighborhood that we would feel safe in. We have viewed three houses in Bunga since yesterday, and all of them could work. Two of the houses have nice lake views, but have small yards and the houses are not as big as we hoped. We just returned from partially viewing a house that…hold your breath…may be the one! It has everything that we have been praying for except mature trees. It had a very large private yard, a large driveway, a garage, and is new. The front porch is huge and wraps around the sides part ways. We were not able to go inside yet, but what we saw through the windows was very nice. We are supposed to get to see the inside sometime later today. We are told that it has five bedrooms. We are very excited and hopeful about this one. It appears to be clean and well finished.

God has been good to us this week by giving us peace and assurance in Him. We don’t doubt at all that He will provide in His time all that we need. It is still difficult to be so unsettled, but we don’t feel that we have missed God in any way. There are still many, many decisions to be made about ministry and even logistics. God will make a way! Every scripture that has been shared with us via email and by other local missionaries has referred to God as our refuge, provider, shelter, and deliverer. Thanks for sharing with us. I was especially thankful for the verse that Jan Orr emailed: Jeremiah 32:27 "I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me"?

We know that God can do the impossible and “Call into being that which does not exist” (Romans 4: 17). We need Him to do that with Pamela’s suitcase, which has been MIA for 5 weeks now. Pamela has released it to the Lord and is trying to be at peace knowing that it may never return. However, we are asking for a miracle and that it would be found, unharmed, and returned. There are many needed items as well as sentimental ones in that bag, including the running shoes that she ran her marathon in.

I had an excellent conversation yesterday with another missionary, Jonathan Mayo, who has ties to Niceville. He had been unable to sleep Tuesday night, and so he stayed up for many hours praying. God was leading him to pray about the need for business development in Uganda. He had just returned from Zambia (where Heart of the Bride is also doing much work), and God had been showing him how much economic development needs to be a part of their ministry. He was praying that God would show them how to move forward. I called Jonathan yesterday to talk for just the second time since we have been here and shared with him my vision for business development. We were both very excited to hear how what God was showing each of us similar things and that I might be the answer to the prayer that God was leading Jonathan to pray.

I still haven’t heard back from the company in Florida that does electricity, but believe that God is still leading me to pursue this for Uganda. It would be incredible to be a part of a solution to such a huge need for Uganda, which has a severe energy crisis.

I really miss football. I mostly miss getting to watch our four sons play for the Niceville rec league. Next, and almost as close, I miss watching the Niceville High School Eagles continue their unbeaten record. Finally, I miss watching college football, especially the Tennessee Vols. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that they beat Georgia 51 to 33. Next up is Alabama. I just wish that I could be there to enjoy watching Tennessee beat the Tide and seeing the look on Brian Rhodes face. Brian was with me in Tuscaloosa last year when Bama kicked a last second field goal to win 6-3 and got to see that same look on my face.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Yesterday was a holiday and we spent the day in Jinja, Uganda. Jinja is a town about 1.5 hours from Kampala and is the source of the Nile River. It is a beautiful place! We saw waterfalls/rapids, gorgeous landscapes, tea and sugarcane fields, Lake Victoria, a forest, and even some monkeys. It was nice to see real Africa and get out of the busy city for a day of retreat. After seeing Jinja, it makes us want to be there. There was so much open land, many trees and flowers, and incredible views of the Nile River and Lake Victoria. It is also much less expensive there. We know that Kampala is our home for now and that God has placed us here, so we only dream of Jinja. It will be a nice place to vacation in the future.

We had lunch at a resort in Jinja and vervet monkeys were coming around to try to get some scraps. Our boys were so excited to get so close. Two of the monkeys were carrying small babies with them.

There is a huge bungee jump over the Nile River, but we did not allow anyone to try it. We also saw a man who was lame in one leg doing incredible acrobatics. It was amazing to see what he could accomplish with just one working leg. He was incredibly strong and muscular and did things that I would not think possible if I had not observed it. Another man said that if we gave him $5 that he would go over the rapids on the Nile with just a 10-gallon water jug. He does this for a living and we paid up. These are huge, Class 5 rapids. He dove in and went through (unharmed) the rapids with just his water jug.

Yesterday was a good day of encouragement and refreshment after several frustrating and trying days. We thank God that He provided this to us when we needed it most and that we were able to enjoy His marvelous creation and handiwork.

Please pray for us as we seek to see where to minister. There are many needs and opportunities and we need clear direction from the Lord. I also need direction and wisdom as we pursue business opportunities here. I continue to make good contacts and meet people of influence. I really believe that the electricity opportunity that I have written about previously is a great alternative for Uganda. Having seen Jinja yesterday, where their hydroelectric plant is located, I saw that the land surrounding it is perfect for the energy crop. The fields of that area are full of sugarcane, which is the same type of climate/terrain that is needed for the energy crop. Being located close to the power grid is ideal, too.

We are totally locked out of our Yahoo email account and cannot send or receive now. I have no idea how to fix it.

Sunday, October 8

This has been an extremely frustrating week, and it is very difficult to not be discouraged. We have only had internet access twice, and neither time had email, so communications with America have been non-existent. We cannot access our Yahoo account, apparently because there are so many emails with large attachments. Our account piled up while we did not have internet for 5 days.

I did finally get a cell phone. I wish that I knew how to call it from America. It is outrageously expensive to call from here unless you get a special service, which I am pursuing. Our local number is 0774-368867. The Uganda international access code is 256. I am not sure which numbers drop off the front of the number when you add the 256 prefix. I will try to find out today and get out a message. Even as I compose this, I have no idea when I will be able to post it. I hope that I can get internet access soon just so that I can find out the result of the TN v GA football game yesterday. Kris McDorman has been faithful to keep me up to date on the results of the Niceville High School games. Every Friday night, we think of NHS and wish that we could be there with our friends cheering for the Eagles.

I forgot to tell you about getting a haircut. I went to a local shop and was the only mzungu (white person) in sight. Every man getting a haircut was either getting shaved totally bald, or very nearly bald. The man cutting my hair was holding only electric clippers and didn’t speak English very well. I was quite thankful to see him add a guard to the clippers before he began shaving my head. In the end, it was ok. A little shorter than I usually get it cut, but it is fine. I was sweating bullets until I got out of the chair, though.

Pamela found out about a traveling manicurist/pedicurist who comes to your house. She was able to get a very complete pedicure for about $8. At least something here is less expensive than in the US.

I was supposed to teach their Sunday school hour this morning, but for the 2nd time in 4 weeks, they never got around to me. They have two services, with Sunday school in the hour in between. They didn’t finish the first service until 15 minutes before the start of the second service today. This has happened twice. The two other Sundays, I was supposed to have the full hour, but only got around 25-30 minutes. I just go prepared to speak now, but with no expectations. We are learning that it is best to not have expectations for anything, less you get disappointed.

The Ugandan “4th of July” is October 9, their day of Independence. They celebrated in church today by having an African heritage day where everyone wore African clothing, the songs were sung in African languages, and there was a lot of traditional dance. It was a fun day, but we didn’t understand much of it. We joined in the celebration by dressing our whole family in African clothing. Our kids and the students seemed to get a big kick out of seeing us dressed like the Ugandans. We were able to purchase clothes yesterday at the annual fair, that I think is part of the Independence Day celebration. Pamela found a beautiful skirt/blouse combination and looked quite African…at least for a blonde haired, green-eyed mzungu.

Yesterday was my mom’s birthday and because we have not had email or internet access for days, I was not able to even wish her a happy birthday. I had hoped to call yesterday, but was unable to do that either. Lack of communication is very frustrating. I cannot imagine what it was like being a missionary before the advent of the internet and email.

We were told yesterday that our container will be released very soon. Right now, it would be best if it was delayed until we found a house, which may occur sometime during 2006. Actually, since 40 is the number of testing (e.g., 40 years of wandering in the desert, 40 days of rain, 40 days of testing in the wilderness) I am wondering if we are being tested for 40 days in our search for a house. I cannot say that God has shown me anything, but the thought has occurred. Whether it is of my flesh or the Spirit, I am not sure.

Friday, October 6, 2006

Well, this week has certainly been a test. I feel like we are making so little progress on any front. We still don’t have a house or Pamela’s suitcase. Today, when I spoke with the baggage-handling department at the airport, they said that the suitcase that they thought was Pamela’s actually belonged to someone else. I have no idea whether or not to believe this report because we could not confirm the accuracy with British Airways. British Airways is closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays here and hopefully we can find out more tomorrow. It has been over 4 weeks without her bag. Their maximum payment for lost luggage is $670, and she has well over $1000 worth of stuff in it. Additionally, you can’t get much of anything here that she had in her bag. It was very depressing news, and we can only hope that it was inaccurate. However, when they supposedly found it almost 2 weeks ago and we still don’t have it, it is hard not to wonder. (we just returned from British Airways and they are telling us the bag is missing)


On the housing front, we can only wait on God. We do not believe that we are supposed to take any of the houses that we have seen because they are either too expensive, in poor condition, or too far away. God keeps speaking to both of us to “wait upon Him”. It has been God’s pattern in our lives to come through at the last possible moment in ways that can only be explained as being from Him. We are reminded of the children of Israel when they left Egypt. They had just observed the plagues, had the Egyptians lavish them with gifts as they left, and even seen Pharaoh finally agree to let them go after the Passover. As they are trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army, they cry out that God has lead them in the wilderness to kill them. They forget all the miraculous things that God has accomplished in the days leading up to this moment, and lost their faith in Him. Yet, God remains faithful and commands the people to be still and silent and watch His work. We are at that same point. God has done amazing things to get us to this point, but we now feel desperate for deliverance. Our container will be released in the next few days and we have nowhere to put the contents. We really don’t have a good place to put the container, either, even if we decided to purchase it (which I don’t want to do because it is so expensive and would require two moves). Our time in the guesthouse is running out, and we are sooooooo ready for a home. Yet, we need to wait upon Him. Everything in our flesh wants to run out and take the best house available, or to spend every waking moment hunting and searching. God promises that if we leave mother and father or brother and sister to follow Him that He will take care of our needs (Matthew 19:29). We believe that He is going to provide for us in a way that glorifies Him and demonstrates his marvelous provision. Sometimes we wonder if we are being too picky, or missing Him. Yet, as we pray, we are in agreement that He is guiding us and giving us confidence to trust in Him. We need God to come through quickly if all of this is going to work out.

We are also praying that the agent that we have been working with will see God. His name is Richard and we have prayed while he was with us for God to lead and provide. We were able to talk with him some today about our faith, as well as his belief in God. I don’t think that he is a Christian, but he is certainly open to talking about God. He needs the money that he would receive from a sales commission since he is helping send his sisters to school because his father died. He has been with us a lot and knows all that we are facing and going through. We want Richard, our sons, and even the students to see God’s provision. When we left Florida, God did things that even non-Christians declared to be the work of God. We desire that He do the same thing here, so that we can “sing a new song” of His great works…all for His glory.

As I was reading scripture this morning, I returned to the passage in Exodus 14 when God parts the Red Sea. I was reminded that when they felt trapped by the sea, that God had instructed Moses to take them to that very spot so that Pharaoh would see them “trapped” and pursue them. We are exactly in the place where God has lead us and He will have to lead us out. We are not to worry about our material needs, for God has promised to provide. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6: 33-34).

Psalm 66: 10-12
For you have tried us O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. You have brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet you brought us into a place of abundance.

We are looking to God to deliver us from this time of refining into a place of abundance in Him.

Wednesday afternoon

Internet service and email access have been restored to the Baptist Mission and we should be able to resume regular communication.

We are getting to crunch time on a house. Please pray for God's clear direction.

Tuesday Night, October 3, 2006

Well, we haven’t had Internet since Friday morning of last week and therefore, I haven’t been bothering to write updates. I am composing this, as I did the post for last Friday, not knowing when it will actually get published. Things have not gotten any easier since the last time that I wrote. I have often said that ‘God is never later, but He is also seldom early.” It seems that we are really being tested on this one.

Pamela’s suitcase still is not here, but “ it will be tomorrow”. Of course, tomorrow never comes for as soon as it does, it is actually today. We finally got to see the house that we have waited 10 days to see. We were very excited about seeing it because it was on a paved road, in a good area, and appeared very nice from the road. We got to see the inside on Monday and were greatly disappointed. Some Chinese men have been renting the house and conducting some type of fish business from the house. They had many nets, scales, and curing areas for the fish and the house was filthy and reeked of fish smells. There were fish parts scattered around as well. The house was also run down. We went from that house to another house that we were also hopeful about, but it was also very dirty and rundown on the inside. After being disappointed by these two houses, we went to a house that I loved, though Pamela wasn’t so sure. It had a beautiful yard, with a diversity of mature trees and shrubs. The house was English tudor with exposed beams in the pitched ceilings and hardwood floors in the living areas. It was very clean and very nice, though not as large as we had hoped and did not have a garage. It didn’t really matter anyway, since the owner told us that he wants $2000 per month for rent. Every house that we have liked has been very expensive and/or in a bad location. We really are not sure what we should do. There is still one house that is an option that is only $1000 but it only has space for one car and it would be almost impossible to have any guests since there is no parking.

I am not sure if I explained this or not, but almost all of the homes have a compound, which is composed of a perimeter wall and vehicle gate. Many people have a guard to man the gate. Within the wall are your house, driveway, and yard. Some compounds are very large with lawns and trees. Others only have a driveway and sometimes no grass or gardens. The houses in the area where we want to live often do not have any grass or trees. The houses that are further away and very hard to access (especially for the students that we are here to minister to) usually have large compounds with good parking, grass, and trees. I have been praying that God would provide a house that is close to the boys’ school, near or on a paved road so that it will be accessible, and finally that it would have a compound where our boys can play some. The English tudor house had all of these things.

We were notified yesterday that we have to be out of the guesthouse by next Monday. Also, our container may be released as soon as next week. If we have a house, we would love for our container to be released next week. If we don’t have a house, then we have nowhere to put the stuff from our container. We were told today that the containers here cost around $4500. I really don’t need to spend that kind of money right now.

We had our container validation today, and it went pretty well. This is where they empty out your container to see if your actual contents match the list that you submitted to customs. The good news is that the customs agent appeared to be easy on us, though I will not know for sure for a couple of days. The rough part is the way that our stuff was treated. They were not supposed to open the container until I arrived, but when I got there our stuff was everywhere. The most irritating part was seeing our mattresses lying in the dirt. We had covered them in plastic wraps in Florida, but apparently they tore the plastic when they drug them through the dirt and gravel. Some of these mattresses were brand new, but now are very dirty and even torn along the edges. I had to keep reminding myself that it all belongs to God and that it will all burn up some day. He could have prevented this if He desired. When they finished verification, they started loading our stuff back on the container. I suspected pretty early that they wouldn’t be able to pack it as efficiently as our crew in Florida, and I was correct. They couldn’t get three pieces of weight equipment, an office chair, or our gas grill back on the container. I hope that we see them all again once customs are cleared. Please pray that they will not try to charge us taxes. Personal effects are not supposed to be taxable. However, they were questioning some of our new things, like the batteries and inverter for electricity. We found out the hard way that donated items are taxable. That doesn’t make sense, but that is the case. We should not have labeled anything as donated. We need to settle this on several things, but primarily the weight equipment. We need God’s favor with the customs agents and the “long room” where the paper processing is done.

We got some very good news on our visas on Monday. We went to check on the process and they extended our visas for two more months…for free. It only took about 10 minutes. It is the only efficient thing that we have done for the month that we have been here. We still have to apply for our work visas and because we cannot get email we cannot get the documents that we need to process them. If you read this, however, it means that we got back on the internet and probably made some progress.

We are getting weary and are very ready to have a place to call home. It appears that we will have to leave the guesthouse by next Monday, which would be fine if we had a place to go. If we don’t have a house when our container clears customs, we don’t have anywhere to store our stuff. The ideal situation would be to have a house by Monday, but it doesn’t look very likely at this point. We are asking for a miracle. We don’t want to settle and be in the wrong house. We want God’s will, and we need to clearly see it. We have been waiting and trying to be patient. However, the urgency that we are now experiencing is due to circumstances outside of our control.

We continue to meet some great missionaries staying in the next-door guesthouse. It has been very encouraging and a great source of advice as we have meet people who have been here as little as six months or as much as 20 years. Our neighbors this weekend had three kids that our boys played with and we all enjoyed hanging out together. We even grilled out. I was very excited when I we found t-bone steaks that were less than $2/pound. However, the excitement soon diminished when I tasted them. The cows here are free range, which means that they eat what they can find in this crowded city and walk a lot. Thus, they are very lean and the meat is tough. The chickens (and goats) are similar. At least the pork is pretty good. I guess that there is no such thing as a skinny pig.

I am publishing this from a restaurant that has internet access. We have not had email access for 5 days and do not know when the internet will be back at our guesthouse. We are unable to reply to emails right now.

Friday, September 29, 2006
Continuing saga of “As the Baggage Carousel Turns”

Well, I am starting to detect a pattern after our 4th Friday in Uganda. What I have discovered is that I don’t like Fridays here, and this one was no exception. Traffic is worse than usual on Fridays, which doesn’t seem possible since it is horrible everyday. And for some reason, it always seems to be extra hot on Friday. It is yucky today. There is no breeze at all, the power has been off all day so there are no fans, and there is never A/C so the lack of electricity has no effect on that. I told Pamela earlier that I’m not sure that I like being a missionary. I miss A/C, smooth paved roads, traffic lights, a bed that is longer than I am, a clean shower, water that you can drink without having to filter it, good coffee and easy to obtain food. What I wouldn’t give to be able to sit on a comfortable couch on Saturday and watch college football all day, while drinking Diet Coke and munching on junk food.

This day got off to a bad start when I awoke at 5:00 am to drive to the airport to pick up Pamela’s bag. It is about an hours drive because of the potholes, taxis, and bicycles. I got there and the flight was delayed. Then I waited until they searched through all of the bags and notified me that the bag still had not arrived. When I tried to file a claim for some financial compensation, they gave me some more forms to fill out. Then we went to the British Airways office to drop it off and the lady was rude and told us that we did it wrong.

We were supposed to see a house today, but the agent never showed up. Hopefully tomorrow we will get to see a house.

It would be easier to write about how we awoke to a backyard full of parrots in the trees and giraffes in the valley. We then picked oranges and mangoes from the trees in the yard and had fresh juice and a freshly brewed cup of locally grown coffee. While driving to the airport, we had to stop and allow elephants and zebras to cross the road. Unfortunately, it just isn’t like that in the city of Kampala, which has over 2 Million people. Most of the trees have been cut and it is very crowed. I saw more wildlife in Bluewater Bay than we have in Uganda. We are living in about 800 square feet with 6 people, and have no grass where we are staying. There is a small parking lot that serves as the boy’s playground. We are spending so much time trying to find a house, cars, cell phone, groceries, school supplies, visas, etc that we have had very little time for ministry.

I know that we will be okay, but today has been a difficult today. I hope that you don’t mind my honesty. We still trust that God lead us here and that He did not lead us out of Egypt to kill us in the desert. He will make a way and one day we will look back on this time to see how He was working. We know that we are being refined as fine silver and gold in His crucible. We have to seek Him each day for our many needs. We have other things that are also trials that we do not have freedom to share in this forum, but God has been faithful to speak through His Word and reveal His truth. When there is a greater dependency for His provision, it always draws us closer to Him. We will not doubt in the dark, what God showed us in the light. We desire to seek His face and not His hand, even when we are in such need of His provision.

The boys are doing remarkably well and we are very thankful for their adaptability and good attitudes. Mondays have been much better days, which will probably be the next time that I can post. In fact, I am writing this off line and it is doubtful that power will be restored in time for me to post this until next week.