MTN Marathon

A few blogs back Kevin mentioned that I ran in the MTN marathon held in Kampala. Thanks to all of you who congratulated me on finishing the marathon; however, I am ashamed to admit that I was only running the 10K portion of the marathon not the full 42K. I am also ashamed to admit that the winner of the 42K finished only a little over an hour of my 10K finish. The winner was a Kenyan who finished in 2hours and 17 minutes. Unbelievable, except that I saw him cross the finish line. The second man to finish was from Uganda. He was being greatly criticized for even entering this race as he had just competed in another marathon only four weeks earlier. Two months time is recommended for full recovery of a marathon. The MTN Marathon is a huge event drawing many participants, including international runners, and huge crowds of spectators. There is an amazing amount of publicity all over the city and the race itself brought out over 6,400 runners. Being an international race and having so many participants made for a very exciting morning. I met up with my friend, Alice, who had signed me up to race and off we went. I have participated in many running events but never one of this magnitude. It was absolutely amazing.

Christmas Day

Our last two Christmases in Uganda have been great opportunities to teach our boys that it is truly better to give than receive. Last Christmas, we shared with the Uganda Jesus Village by taking gifts and cookies. This year we decided to share with our neighbors whom we have grown to know and love so much. Amongst four homes very near to our compound, there are twelve children. We invited them to come to our home on Christmas day for a movie, snacks, fun and gifts. They all arrived 1-½ hours late- not unusual, just wished I had remembered when I set the time- in their nice Christmas clothes. They all seemed so happy to be invited somewhere to share in this special day. For many, it is just another day for work because there may not be any money to do anything special. Christmas in Uganda focuses on being together as a family and eating special foods you might not eat at other times of the year – like chicken for example rather than gift giving. The gift is being together. We had a great time sharing the truth of Christmas, snacks, a movie, some gifts and candy but most of all the love of Jesus that beats in our hearts for these little ones. It is truly better to give than receive. The joy and blessings of that day are ours. If you would like to see a four minute video clip of this day, go our friends the Rineheimer’s blog at ugandarinehimer.blogspot.com and follow the link on the left hand side to Christmas 2007. John and Erica are excellent at adding these special touches to their blog. The Ironsides do not know how to do this, so enjoy theirs I don’t think they will mind. You would probably enjoy reading about what is going on up country Uganda in Arua town. Thanks Rinehimers!

Godfrey

Godfrey is one of the twelve children who came to our home for Christmas. Godfrey lives with his Auntie because his mother died of HIV/AIDS and the father is now sick. Godfrey is ten years old and the oldest child living in his home. Because of his circumstances of being the oldest, a boy and a rejected child, he is often the source of much abuse. He walks long distances to purchase food for the family. He goes to school early in the morning, returns around 6, washes his clothes, and begins fetching water for cooking and more. Godfrey does not look at you when you speak to him and he mumbles his words looking down--- signs of emotional and physical abuse. While at our Christmas celebration, I reached under Godfrey’s chin to lift his face up to look at me while I spoke to him and let him know that this was ok. Kevin said that after I touched his face Godfrey reached up and touched his face in the same place that I had touched him and continued to hold his face. It was as if this was the first time his sweet little face and been touched with love and affection. Also, while he was at on our home on Christmas day, I noticed that he had a very deep wound on his knee. I asked the Auntie if I could clean and bandage the wound. The wound was so bad and needed daily cleansing and bandaging. I asked the Auntie if she would allow Godfrey to come for several days for treatment. She allowed him to come and today marks day 18 of his visits to our home. When he would come, I would doctor the knee, pray with him, sometimes offer food and drink and most of all share the love of Jesus while I pushed him on the swing for a while. These visits to our home in the afternoon have become a highlight in Godfrey’s day. Before leaving each day, he would always say “tomorrow at four?” The knee has almost completely healed and I pray that in someway so has Godfrey’s little heart. I realize that the healing of heart that Godfrey needs is far beyond a few days of bandages and affection but it is our pray that in some small way he has indeed felt the love of Jesus for him. We are so thankful for these opportunities to be the hands, feet and heart of Jesus to those around us. It is truly a privilege that blesses our hearts continually.

Addison’s 8th Birthday

Addison turned 8 on January 7th. He choose to the spend the day celebrating with his brothers and a few friends at Didi’s World Amusement Park – the self-proclaimed “Disney World of Uganda”. Their favorite activities at the park are the water slide and the bumper cars. Unfortunately, on this particular day, the bumper cars were broken and the pool water looked like pea soup. Now, for some of his brothers, this would have meant for a very cruddy day, but for Addison his joy is people and in spite of the circumstances he had a fabulous day. We are so thankful for Addison and his love for life. He continues to have such a joyful spirit and is a blessing to our home. He is most loved by our African friends and often they refer to our family as the “Addisons”. May God continue to grow and nurture his heart with a strong love for people and use him for HIS kingdom purposes.

Unrest in Kenya

Thank you for all who have been faithfully lifting up our brothers and sisters in Kenya. It has been two weeks following presidential elections that went awry. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced living in IDP camps with very little food and water if any. The news reports 700 hundred who have lost their lives; however, those returning to Uganda from Kenya are reporting that that number is very low. Please pray for our brothers and sisters who suffer unjustly, who have lost everything they have worked for, and who are being killed innocently. Our hearts are so heavy for this land. Will you carry the burden with us in prayer?

Demonstrations are planned for Wednesday through Friday of this week, and it could create some horrible violence. The stories that we are hearing from our Kenyan friends that have returned to Uganda are horrific. The killings and lootings are rampant in Western Kenya, and through they have calmed in the past week, the new demonstrations this week could easily rekindle the flames of hatred and violence that have subsided.

Pamela

Kenya Unrest

The international news channels are just beginning to report on the unrest in Kenya following the elections from December 27th. It is a tragic situation and could easily grow worse. I will not provide all of the details, as those are more easily understood by reading the reports on CNN or other news channels. However, I will tell you that many people are being killed, houses are being burned, stores looted, and there is general chaos throughout the country. Most of the students that we work with are from Kenya and are very concerned. Pastor Kennedy lives in Eldoret, which is where most of the killing is taking place and is where the church was set on fire while people were inside. Because it was the Christmas holidays, the students are still in Kenya and are being directly affected by this. Please pray for their safety and for peace to return to Kenya. Also pray for missionaries in Kenya and for wisdom in what to do. We have some missionary friends from Uganda who are stuck in Kenya after going there for Christmas vacation.

This is having an indirect impact on Uganda, though nothing like what is happening in Kenya. Currently, the Uganda/Kenya border is closed and is anticipated to stay closed for the near future. Because Uganda is a land-locked country, almost all of the goods and supplies come from Kenya, including most groceries and all fuel. Currently, fuel supplies are extremely low and will probably be totally depleted within 48 hours. Gasoline (petrol here) has gone from $6/gallon to $12/gallon and appears to be totally gone. Diesel was $8/gallon this morning, if you could find it. I went to three stations before I found a place willing to sell me 5 gallons. If this lasts much longer, the food supplies will also start to run low. This creates a tension of it’s own and people were driving more aggressively than normal today. I narrowly avoided a bad accident when I fortunately noticed that someone was trying to pass me on the right while I was turning right. Since we drive on the left hand side of the road, this would be like someone passing you on the left while you were turning left in America. This has happened to me twice in the past week. I always try to check my side mirror to ensure that no one is doing this, but it is hard to always remember. Driving is so crazy here!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with our friends from World Gospel Mission. We had a good time and enjoyed the fellowship. We are looking forward to 2008 and seeking God on how best to order our lives for this year.

One of the reasons that we came to Africa was I felt like I needed to be more involved in our sons’ lives. We felt like being on the mission field together would allow us time together in ministry and that I would also have more time at home with them than I had in America. Well, I allowed my schedule to get way too full the past 8 months or so and realize that I need to be more purposed with my time. Because we are in student ministry, our weekends and evenings get quite busy since that is the time that students are available. Unfortunately, it is also the main time that I can see my sons. I was gone at least four nights a week and usually totally occupied on teaching and preaching over the weekend. We are trying to guard against such a hectic schedule this year.

We are diligently planning to be together more as a family. We have set aside Friday nights as family fun night and a time that we will spend together having fun as a family. This was when I had discipleship group the past year, but I will have to move it to a different night. Sunday nights and Wednesday nights are going to be times set apart for family spiritual nights where we will pray, sing, and study God’s Word. Since our boys are going to Heritage International School beginning tomorrow, they will now be at the same school where I teach each morning. This will also give us more time together.

We know that whenever we return to America that my work schedule will be demanding and that our boys will get involved in sports again. Though we do our best to keep these things in balance, we know that we will never have as much time together as a family as we do now. We need to make the most of it.

Please don’t think that we are pulling out of ministry to be a family. I will still be doing most of the things that we did last semester. It is just that I will try to be home at the same time that my sons are home, and will not take on so much preaching at other churches.

Wishing you God’s best in 2008! I will write another blog as soon as I can about how we spent Christmas. Some of the pictures that I posted are from then.

Kevin for the Tribe