Update #3 Comin' at ya!

Hello all from another beautiful day here in Gulu, Uganda! Everyone got to sleep in this morning and we're refreshed and ready to take on another week. In fact as I walked to the cafe today I was overcome with newfound love for the people and beauty in this place. I offered a hello to everyone I passed on foot or bike and was deliberate in my actions to be the hands, feet and smile of Christ to all I met. Can't believe we'll be back in Colorado one month from today!

Last week was filled with ups and downs but the Lord has helped us to overcome all the downs and was glorified in all the ups.

Our team definitely felt spiritually attacked in different ways. The spirits of oppression, doubt and discouragement pressed down on us pretty hard and we all found ourselves wondering why we're here and what good we're doing. Things aren't always as organized as we would like and there are many times that we're left without something tangible to do. I specifically remember waking up one morning and literally feeling the spirit of oppression trying to push me back down. I should have taken it more seriously but seeing as I've never encountered it in this way before, I just brushed it off. But I definitely began to feel its effects this week. I was discouraged about not doing more but couldn't muster up the desire to do anything to change it. I confided in Eric and the team and after a time of some solid intercession, things looked brighter and we were reminded that God is using us in ways that we can't even see. That this trip is His trip and as long as we are open to wherever He calls and leads us, it will be successful. We also remembered that even before we left, we felt a strong call to be interceding the whole time we're here and to not despise small beginnings. So we spent much of the week interceding and had a great worship session at the ministry where the kids came out and joined us during their recess.

Last Monday the stars were brighter than we'd yet seen them and were blown away by the beauty and how vast the sky is. We listened to worship music and marveled at how huge God is.

Tuesday evening a number of us went to the hospital to pray for the patients and Tom ended up assisting in surgery for a stab victim. It was a pretty incredible opportunity for him.

Eric, Jacob and Jake held meetings with Jenny and the rest of the Soldiers of Christ staff in the afternoons and really had a productive time laying out the goals of the ministry and organizing all the necessary logistics.

Saturday we held a fun day at the ministry for all the kids in the community and around 200 kids showed up. Things were chaotic, especially at the goin' fishin' booth where toys were being given out and the balloon animal booth. But the kids had a great time and it was a privilege to love on the children of the King who rarely get opportunities like that. I felt the Lord telling me "all you can do is all you can do." While things may not have gone as smoothly as I would have hoped, the kids delighted in our being there anyway. Our kids had a great time playing with the kids and helping to give out candy and prizes.

I did the teaching on Sunday at church and Eric delievered the sermon. After church The pastor of Soldiers of Christ church went to the burial of his brother and Eric and Tyler went along. Pastor Quinto asked Eric to give the salvation message at the service which was a huge honor for him.

So many on our team have been battling illness or different ailments. Jake has yet another staph infection on his leg but this one is hurting significantly more. Tom spent a few hours in the hospital after feeling dizzy and having an upset stomach and fever. The doctors gave him a round of IVs and after some rest he's feeling much better. Both Savannah and Avalyn are still trying to overcome a pretty severe diaper rash from diarrhea. Savannah also has had a low-grade fever the past 4 days which we are confident is a result from her 2 year molars trying to push through.

Despite the attacks from the enemy and our bouts with physical issues, God is still doing a mighty work though our team. Relationships are being strengthened with the Ugandan people and we're taking every opportunity to be the light of Christ even as we're going about our day to day activities.

Prayer Points

• Continued health and healing for everyone on our team
• Continued unity
• Opportunities for ministry
• That we would see this outreach through God's eyes

Grandparents Corner

• Savannah is battling those molars and hasn't been her usual happy self.  :(
• We have been working on saying ABC
• She still loves reading books and watching Mickey Mouse as much as ever.
• The chickens and roosters still bring her an uncanny amount of delight (no, this doesn't mean that you guys can buy her one)
• She sends all her love, hugs and kisses to you.

Uganda Update Week 2!

hello all! it's another beautiful day here in Gulu, Uganda! we pray you are all well wherever you may be. we had a wonderful week full of blessings and God moving. on tuesday we went on a prayer walk to some of the villages around the ministry and were able to pray healing over a few older ladies. while none of them did cartwheels down the path, they did say they felt relief and we're confident God will bring full healing.

a few of us went in to a couple of secondary schools (high schools) on wednesday and friday and shared teachings. the school we visited on friday resonded in a powerful way. eric and tom shared their testimonies and randi and jerrica gave a mini sermonette. in the end over 10 people raised their hands in response to giving their lives to Christ and six came up to us afterwards to talk more about it. praise Him! we also had a cool question and answer time and boy did they have questions! it just showed us how very ripe the fields here are for harvest, especially among the younger people. they are about to go on "winter" break but hopefully we'll have more opportunities to partner with this rising generation.

we also began working on support profiles for the kids in soldiers of Christ so you can all be looking forward to viewing those upon our arrival home.

we said goodbye to the schram fam this past thursday and had a goodbye party for them at a local restaurant that we found that has the most amazing pizza and burgers. the owner is from chicago and definitely does honor to good ol' american food :) we were sad to see them go. they were such a blessing to us the entire two weeks they were here but are excited to see how they are able to bless the thai team. but the night wasn't all sad. one of the boda drivers, ping pong, with whom eric and some of the other guys had been building a relationship, gave his life to Christ after much spiritual warfare and prayer. it was such a great experience for all of those involved. eric was excited because ping pong is the first person he's actually helped get saved. Apong (his actual name) has now been joined to the family and discipleship is well under way.

tyler had a cool opportunity presented to him this weekend. a team he plays basketball with invited him to a weekend tournament in kampala. jacob went with him and the two had a great time building relationships with some of the local guys. unfortunately tyler ended up not being able to play. the officials said they needed an official letter from the director of the NBA granting him permission to play. hahaha! they thought tyler was in the NBA. but it was still a nice boys weekend for the two of them.

jake had a visit to the hospital yesterday. nothing serious but he had a staph infection on his leg that the doctors had to clean out and care for. he is much better today and can now say he's been a patient at a hospital. between us, i think he was really excited about it :)

well that's going to do it for us this week! know that we love and miss you all. until next time!
carrying His name in Uganda!
eric & randi

First Update from Uganda!

Hello from Gulu! we are sitting at cafe larem enjoying our day off, having some coffee and updating all our friends on the latest news. we had a really great time traveling. although the time was very long, savannah did great. we were blessed to have bulkhead on the flight from washington d.c. to ethiopia which gave us more leg room and a bassinet type thing for savannah. she slept well and never seemed to struggle much with her ears. we each had our own video players so we could watch movies and play games. by the time we were on the van ride to our house though everyone was so exhausted we just couldn't stay awake. 24 hours of straight travel really takes it out of you!

So far uganda reminds me a lot of honduras and every other third world country i've been to. diesel exhuast fills the air, everything is green and animals roam free. the weather is great. hot and humid but there's actually relief at night. it's even better than the georgia climate :) although it's the rainy season, the showers are relatively short and it does a great job cooling things off. the people are beautiful. so warm and inviting. they are enamored with us. mizungu is what they call us. it means white person. haha. their smiles are enchanting and they have captured our hearts from the beginning. we live in a 4 bedroom house with 19 people. there are definitely days when the house seems smaller than others but we're getting through. irritations are common and personal space isn't always respected, especially from the kids, but relationships haven't suffered and unity is still good. we have 3 bathrooms, a garage, kitchen and living space. we even have a few chickens. the kids love chasing them around and crowing with the roosters. we're blessed to have power most of the time. but it's sometimes touch and go. it will go out randomly and we use solar lamps and headlamps. we cheer whenever it comes back on. it's the little things :) town is just a short boda (motorcycle taxi) ride or walk away so we make it to the city pretty frequently to get online or get a soda. we ate at an incredible pork joint today for the equivalent of $1 and we may go to a pizza place tonight for dinner. we're settling in to the routine of life really well.

Ministry has been good. we had a great meeting on tuesday where we planned what the team is hoping to accompish while we're here: to complete profiles for all of the children to set up sponsorships and made a promo video, to cement the floor of the nursery school classroom, lay the foundation of the church, paint the exterior, set up a budget, etc. it was a great time of planning and direction seeking. we've also done a lot of intercession for the ministry, the village and our team. we pray for the other outreach teams as well and it's been cool to pray for our friends in turkey, thailand and nepal. so cool to know that God is working all around the world at the same time. eric has actually been put in charge of intercession for our team. he sets up times for the team to come together and pray as one. it's a perfect job for him. he also went to buy construction supplies on wednesday so we could plaster the walls of one of the buildings. we were hoping to paint the outside to create some color at the school and make it more appealing to others who may want to attend. we worked hard for 3 days and had an all-hands-on-deck day friday. we know now how to mix cement and throw it on the walls with a trowel. however, we received some discouraging news saturday night. apparently the original builder at the ministry payed no attention to property lines and the building we had done all the work on was 5 feet on another man's property. he was fine with the building being there because it was understood that the building was temporary (it would last approx. 7 years) but once we began plastering he was upset because who plasters a temporary building? (our plan was to paint the outside to provide some color to the buildings and make it more inviting.) so now the building has to come down. all the work and supplies were in a sense wasted. our team took the news well. we looked at the work as practice :) but our hearts hurt for soldiers of christ. it was a huge blow to them. we spent some time in intercession and tried to encourage jenny, jimmy and collines as well as we could with Words the Lord gave us. now they have to figure out the next step to take. when to tear down the building, do they look into obtaining more property, etc. but we're moving forward and just making the most of all we have. at least we can use the bricks to help lay the foundation for the church.

The 4th of july was on monday and we had to remind ourselves it was because obviously it's not celebrated here. lol. we had our own version of a BBQ by eating macaroni and cheese from back home and pineapple then watched a movie on the 9inch portable dvd player we brought. :)

We celebrated eric's birthday on thursday (july 7th). he's 24 now! he spent the morning in intercession with tyler and we all went out to dinner as a team to a lebanse restaurant. i bought him a book and 2 crunch bars back in the states and gave them to him here. he loved the surprise. unfortunately one of the little boys came into our room the next day and ate one of the bars. remember when i said sometimes personal space wasn't respected? lol but it's fine. we're learning to cope.

The food here has been delicious. we're fortunate to have hired a local woman to cook all our meals for us and she even blesses us by doing our laundry. we eat a lot of rice, beans,chipati (basically a tortilla), fruit (they have the freshest bananas and pineapple and what's called jack fruit), matoke (which looks like a banana but has a similar texture and flavor to potatoes. savannah eats ok. somedays she likes the food more than others but you can pray she eats more. with all the running around and eating mostly granola bars and pb&j, her adorable little belly is getting smaller.

 

prayer points:

  *continued health

  *wisdom for the ministry and what to do next and what that looks like for our team and how we can be most effective

  *team unity and patience as we get used to living with 19 people in a 4 bedroom house.

  *obedience and healthy appetites for the kids.