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.