March 20, 2007

I hope that you have noticed that I got some pictures posted under the
Flickr window (look to the right of this blog). If you click on a picture, then it will enlarge. The internet is so incredibly slow that posting pictures is a challenge, but I did manage to get a few posted and will try to do some more this week. I have tried to post pictures within the text of the blog, but it never shows up even after it says that it downloaded. Oh well, either I am doing it wrong (likely) or the internet just can’t handle it here.

Pamela just returned yesterday from spending four days “up country” in the town of Arua. This used to be a dangerous area but it is much safer now. Most of northern Uganda is still unsafe due to the Lord’s Resistance Army activity. She had a good trip and made it to and from safely, which is never taken for granted here.

Christian is still battling an intestinal infection of some sort, probably giardia. He went back to school for a couple of days but is home sick again today. We are giving him another round of medicine, which should help clear this up. I learned a new term this week – “diarrating”. Apparently, this is the Ugandan term in verb form for when you have diarrhea. Hopefully, Christian will quite diarrating soon or he will be skinny. One good thing about being sick here – you never need to go on a diet.

Christian caught a chameleon yesterday but I just found out that he already released it. I was going to put a picture of it on the blog for his friends to see.

I am going to start posting a weekly update of emails that we have received so that you can know that yours got through to us. In the past week we have received emails from:
Barbara Ironside, Sarah Hawkins, Lisa Knauss, Brenda Corder, Heather Huff, Alison Lublink, and Jamie McKee. Apparently, women are much more faithful at staying in touch than men based on that list. If we send you an email, please send a short reply letting us know that you got it. This would be quite helpful.

Prayer Needs:
1. Clear direction from the Lord about adopting (boy or girl or both, how old, from where)
2. Location for the student center.
3. Resolution of the work visas. They are currently trying to charge $1000/year/person for missionaries. It used to be $250 per person for a three-year permit. We are unable to leave the country until this is resolved. I am holding out and hoping that there will be a reasonable compromise.
4. Good health for all.
5. Fruitful ministry, especially in discipleship of students.

Last week was a busy and productive week for ministry. I got my first chance to do pastor training, which was something that I had really hoped to do here. I trained a group of 10 pastors on Thursday and Friday on gifts of the Holy Spirit and also on how to prepare a sermon. It was an excellent group and they asked excellent questions. Our discussion on the gift of tongues was the most lively of all. I tried my best to stick to scripture and not rely on my opinion. There are varied teachings on tongues across the globe, but I heard something new this week. One pastor said that people pray in tongues so that Satan cannot understand them and thwart their prayers. As a group, we decided that there wasn’t anything in scripture to support this viewpoint. I just keep pointing them back to the Bible on everything, and I am encouraged at how well they know the scriptures. False teaching is rampant in Uganda, and especially prosperity teaching, so knowing and following the Word is imperative.

We have enjoyed the baseball updates from Niceville. Please keep them coming so that we can stay a part even halfway across the world. We thought about you guys on opening day and wished we could have been there.

I am very pleased that the UT Vols made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament and I am hoping for an upset of Ohio State. I don’t require email updates about them as I keep up with the results on the internet. I appreciate people sending college sports updates, but it is not necessary. If I have email, then it means that we also have internet. Actually, we often have internet but don’t have email but the opposite can never occur. If we have internet, then be assured that I am following sports and especially UT basketball and football. You can take the boy out of America, but you cannot get all of America out of the boy. I am as avid a fan as ever, even without seeing a game on television for many months now.