Time for a few pictures to fill you in on what's been happening around here! Our family has experienced a lot of change in the last few months, and it's finally starting to take a toll on our health. Five of us have had malaria in the past few weeks, including me (for the first time!). Despite all the changes, we have enjoyed our visitors, our move, and our quick trip to the game park :) Enjoy the pictures! Tree climbing is the new favorite past time around here. Thankfully our new home has lots of them! Andrew Magel and Kenneth spent a loooong time slaughtering a goat to roast in celebration of our returning team members, Andrew and Kerri Meador. Check out their blog for more pictures of Kacheri. www.joyofmine.blogspot.com Working on Kerri and Andrew's hut in the rain. Is he not just the cutest thing?? Acuka is now 16 months and such a fun baby. He took two steps yesterday, but shows no inclination to repeat it : Story time with Andrew. Selah took a shine to him and was always following him around :) One of our little girl goats, Barli. On the way to Kidepo, the local game park. Gorgeous! Look closely! I think there were six lions that came out of the tall grass, lay down on the road and posed, and then disappeared again. Church under the tree. Church planting is going well and continues to be a joy for Kenneth. Building time! We recently hosted a team from The Gathering Place church in Pineville, LA. We really appreciated their hard work, generosity, and joyful spirits. With so many white people in one place our yard was constantly surrounded by onlookers calling our names. Andrew and Kerri working hard :) Our version of cliff jumping! That's it for now, folks! Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we labor here in Karamoja. Lately we have really felt beaten down, so pray that we will have strength to endure and persevere. As always, your emails, phone calls, and letters are cherished.
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I know what you're thinking...where the heck have we been? Sorry for the long hiatus. It has been a busy time of moving, traveling, working, and of course, playing. We are slowly getting our house(s) and property in order, and our little flock of goats (and one pregnant sheep) seems to grow almost daily. We've planted our garden, built two huts and a bathing shelter, put up clothes lines, dug a trash burning pit and a compost pit, put a new door on the latrine, and of course, hung the hammock (and by "we" I, of course, mean our gardener, Wari. He is quite the handyman!). Our summer soccer player went back home to his sweetie, my sister and her funny husband have returned to join us in Karamoja, and we are currently enjoying a team of five construction workers from the Gathering Place church in Pineville, LA, who are building our pastor training/literacy center come rain, come shine.
Life is full, conversation rich, and spiritual warfare, definitely present. During the last few weeks it has become apparent that we are indeed where we are supposed to be. We are seeking God daily, spending time in prayer and worship (adoration some call it, others, eucharisto), trying to take in large amounts of scripture daily, and asking God constantly to open the heavens and pour out his spirit on us, this people, and this land. We are seeking Him and finding He is readily available to all who ask. As my dad used to say, He waits to be wanted. But along with this has come extremely high malaria fevers, my baby girl on an IV, projectile vomiting at 6:30am, new computers that die for no reason, a lost contact that was found the next day no worse for being swept up and left to be tossed out with the other dirt, and a host of other things that tend to leave you feeling dejected, demoralized, and just plain tired. When God is at work the enemy does not rest. Thankfully my God is a force to be reckoned with. During this time of seeming constant attack, I have felt the presence of God filling our house. He has seemed to be just an arm's length away, and if I could just stretch out a bit more I could touch the hem of His garment. No amazing changes have been wrought through this struggle of ours, no lives changed, no huge battles fought, yet I feel we have won something. My joy remains, my spirit is not crushed, and I can say with firm conviction that my God is good, and His purposes will not be thwarted. "For you, O God, have tested us, you have tried us as silver is tried, You brought us into the net, you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance." Psalm 66:10-12 Imagine if you were there when Jesus died, one of His followers. You have been with Him three years, watched Him heal the sick, befriend the poor, open His arms to the rejected children, and preach the good news that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He has told the world that they have a heavenly Father that loves them and is calling out to them. Their heavenly Father cares about them, their needs, their struggles, their suffering, and He desperately wants to replace all of the pain with Himself. He tells them for the first time that they can talk to Him, hear from Him, and have a full-fledged relationship with Him. Then Jesus dies, and you cry, wondering what will come of all this. He sends His Holy Spirit whom He said would actually be better than having Him there. You get it now! You have to show the world that they can have God live with them, love them, and relate to them! So what is your next step?
Do you begin by renting yourself a local office in town and then maybe gathering a few of the other followers to strategize with you? Maybe you convince them that if they will give you a certain amount of money you can spend your whole day telling people the truth. You talk about how you are going to get into the streets, the alleys, and the walking paths, into people's homes and their places of work in order to make God known. Finally, you and the followers decide to build a building and see if you can get all of these new people you meet to come to your place instead. Someone asks the question, “Why are they going to come to our place?” You explain that you will just give them a few catch lines concerning what the meeting is about, and they will be hooked. It seems simple enough. A few people are not sure this will work, but they decide to watch and see. Is that really how you want to begin? I mean, Jesus was on the road, walking from town to town. He was sharing in houses, on mountain sides, and in the streets. Why didn't He just call everyone to the local synagogue where they could form neat rows? What if it rained while He was on the mountain? Then what would they do? Jesus sat in the homes of the unchurched, the unclean, and the sinful and taught them, places the pastors of the day wouldn't even venture. Eventually you decide that you should do it like Jesus. You think about the lady who was unclean, bleeding for twelve years. She wouldn't have been able to come into your building. You think about the man they called Legion that had so many demons. Jesus healed him and changed his life. You don't think he would have come to your office. You probably would have made the roof to your building up to code so that the four friends couldn't have dug a hole through it. No lowering of paralytics into your building, only a good, strong roof. The more you think about it the more you realize that all of the experiences you had with Jesus just wouldn't have happened in your building. We discovered a few years ago that “church” has to happen where the people are. Jesus' way might not have been the most efficient or the easiest way, in fact it was often messy and uncomfortable, but man, listen to His stories! Don't you want stories like that? We do, and we are here in Karamoja, Uganda, trying to live out those stories. How do we plant churches? We make friends in a village and ask them if they would like to sit under the tree with us and talk about God and His kingdom. Sometimes once a week, in other places multiple times a week we sit, read the Bible, and talk about what it says. When someone wants to follow God we have a church. I don't say “church” because we start doing it more formally, but because there are now two of us, two children of God gathering together. Sometimes we sing, but sometimes we don't. Usually we read, but sometimes we don't. We almost always pray for one another because we have yet to find a day when someone doesn't need it. We do this under trees, in homes, and wherever works. The Spirit of God is moving, and people are gathering to hear the word, deciding that it is what they want for their lives. The other day a man's son went missing. A search could not produce any results, so we prayed. The next day the son came back! He was lost and then found, and our friend's faith increased. A woman came into our home almost dead. We cared for her as well as we could, but she died anyway. Despite her death her village was able to see God's love, and another church was birthed. We have made loads of mistakes like asking the wrong man to lead. I didn't know he was an alcoholic and thief, and we start over and try again. Oops! No big deal. I think God is being glorified, and lives are being touched so I am excited. I find that people get excited when we tell these stories, and they encourage us to keep on. My question is, why don't we do this at home? Why is this great for missionaries in foreign countries but not for America? What keeps us from inviting coworkers to Starbucks or into our homes for a meal and talking about God and His kingdom? Why does church need to be more complicated than that? Let's dream together. Imagine our “churches”, as we will call these gatherings. Imagine a place where someone has a need, and the group uses their tithe to pay that person's rent for the month. Their money is not being used to pay off buildings, pay utility bills, pay pastors' salaries, put in new carpet, run their programs, or buy new choir robes. Imagine a place where everyone's prayer requests and needs are made known...a place where everyone can use their gifts of music, hospitality, teaching, service, etc...a place where when someone's husband or wife dies, the whole group mourns together...a place where everyone gets a chance to share the truths God is teaching them. In this place you can worship God together with your children. They don't have to be completely quiet because we believe that God speaks through our kids. Imagine a church where a homeless person comes to Christ, and the group loves on that person until they are back on their feet. I like the early church as described here: “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:42-47 I can go on and on in my dreams, and I imagine you can too. Dream with us. Don't be content to accept the status quo. If we can dream more then we can be more. Do you recognize this baby? No? I'm not surprised. He's grown up a bit :) What about this tiny guy? Does he look more familiar? It's hard to believe this is the same baby! Little Acuka Moses was brought to us weighing only 2lb 12oz at 2 1/2 months early. His mother died after giving birth, and his father was at a loss for what to do with his tiny new son. We agreed to take him in and foster him for a few months until he was bigger and stronger. He was so small it seemed like he was never going to grow... But finally, at about 4 months, he began to grow. Not longer but fatter...and fatter...and fatter :) At one point he could hardly smile because his cheeks were so fat! Look at those rolls!! Hanging out on Mommy's back. After beans and rice at the hospital he's a mess! Can you tell that someone is now crawling?? Look at those dirty knees! Hanging out with his "twin", looking at a book. These two are very close, so much so that Selah can't sleep if Acuka is crying. If you read our first blog about Acuka you're probably wondering why we still have him! Our intention was always to return him to his family as soon as possible. It became clear early on that they were unable and unwilling to take him back. They asked us to raise him for several years and then bring him back to their village. We had to tell them that there was no possible way our family could do that. We were already attached to him and couldn't imagine keeping him for years before returning him! We felt that it would be unfair to Acuka and not in his best interests at all. We asked them to decide: either they would take him back then (when he was 5 months old), or we would keep him permanently.
This was, of course, a very hard position to put his father in, but he was also putting us in a hard position by changing his mind on our "foster care" agreement and refusing to take his son. It was painful on both sides. We struggled with whether we were doing the right thing. We prayed and talked and prayed some more...but ultimately the decision was an easy one. Because first and foremost, Acuka's father loves his son. Believe it or not the kind of care and concern we have seen from his father is rare here. We have been blessed to be a part of Acuka's family and to have them as a part of ours. We are especially thankful for this little guy that we now have the privilege of raising and loving. He is a joy and a delight! Please continue to pray that the adoption process would go well with Acuka. He is also having some health problems and has recently begun losing weight. This wouldn't concern me if he was a normal size, but he has only made it to 13 lb. so far! Pray for his healing and growth as well. I don't know how to write this story. I've been mulling it over for a week now, trying to find the words that will make it come alive. But words fail.
One scene replays in my head again and again. She is incoherent, babbling, calling out, her arms waving wildly as she searches with half- blind eyes. "Etwana ayong! Etwana ayong!" I am dying. I take her grasping hand in mine. I lean close and speak clearly, "Ayeni". I know. She quiets. Her searching eyes find my face. She whispers now, eyes locked with mine, "Etwana ayong". I answer again, "Ayeni. Encoriana? Are you afraid?" "Eh," she replies, still holding my gaze and gripping my hand fiercely. Yes. Kenneth calls as I'm making lunch. "I'm bringing home a new roommate." "Oh? Who is it?" "An old woman I found in the village, starving to death. She's in pretty bad shape. She may not make it, but I couldn't leave her there. Her family abandoned her, and she's been lying alone in her hut for who knows how long." Believe it or not, this is not commonplace in our house, the care of starving, dying people, but I'm up for it I think. But it was worse than he claimed. She was just a bag of bones. A heavy bag of bones, but bones none-the-less. Too weak to sit, eyes swollen shut, feet and hands swollen and useless, ugly infected wound on her leg, and hadn't eaten in days. She was incoherent and confused, but she could still eat. And still complain. "It's dark out here. (she was inside and it was daytime.) Have you started cooking yet?" "Yes, I'm making you some porridge." "I don't want porridge. I want posho! (Kind of like very thick, tasteless mashed potatoes.)" "Ok, what would you like on your posho? Beans? Cabbage?" "No, sugar. I want posho and sugar." Ha. Spunky old thing. We bathe her, possibly for the first time in months. Kenneth teases her about getting ready for a dance, and she falls for it, hook, line and sinker. She doesn't know where she is, and for once since coming here I am not treated differently because of my skin color. She can't see me. I wash her hair, washing away months of dirt and grime. I scrub her calloused feet, and the water turns dark. We rub her with lotion and tuck her into our bed with its clean sheets and soft mattress. I comb her hair. She smells lovely, fresh and clean. We hold her hand and stroke her swollen, useless fingers. We pray over her that God will be glorified through her life. We find ourselves already loving this crotchety, confused old woman. A restless day follows an even more restless night. Her leg is worse despite the antibiotics, and she is in constant pain. She is mostly incoherent, not understanding what is happening around her. Pain seems to be her only reality. She sleeps off and on, refusing food, waking to babble about people and places we don't know. We share with her about Jesus' love for her. We pray for God's mercy. She is close to giving up. We spend the next few days going back and forth in response to her calls. She is asking for people we don't know. She is confused. She cries out in pain as we try to lift and carry her to our homemade toilet. She is already past the point of needing it. Fear fills her eyes as she talks with people we can't see. Her constant refrain is, "Etwana ayong." She is dying. My children come in periodically to check on me and the old woman. I don't want to leave her alone in her suffering. They sit by her bed. "Mommy, is she going to die?" "Yes, I think so. Hopefully soon because she is in a lot of pain." "I don't want her to die." "Neither do I, especially because she doesn't know Jesus." And more conversation follows. About what happens after our deaths, about whether death is an enemy or a friend, about who is waiting for us on the other side. They are curious, asking many questions, but not fearful. My children know their Savior lives, and their eternity is secure. I don't have the same confidence for her. I pray desperately and constantly like Bartimeus, "God, have mercy on her, a sinner!" She is slipping away. That evening we finally give her some stronger pain medicine, and she slips into a restless sleep. Sometime during the night her sleep becomes a coma, and she doesn't wake again. One more day of suffering, of ragged, uneven breaths, and she is gone. It is hard to relay the events of the past week but we have learned in all of our troubles, trials and difficulties to pray and ask God that He would use it to glorify himself. God and His glory is what we are after. We are heartbroken because we know that no one in that village has ever heard of the love of Christ but we are also hopeful because our care for her has given us a place in her community. We are meeting with the people of that village and sharing the hope with them that is Christ Jesus. We know that we serve a God who brings beauty from ashes. Thank you Father for showing yourself to us through the eyes of an old grandmother. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." Hebrews 3:15 Eternity is just a breath away. In the last few weeks we've been brainstorming how we can do more for the people around us. It's been hard being the white people who have so much and trying to discern where it's appropriate to give. Years and years of drought and starvation that has brought in many NGO's to fix things has developed a begging mentality among the Karimojong. If you help them once they will be back a hundred times for more help. It makes giving difficult. No matter how much a person is in need, I can never help them without thinking somewhere in the back of my mind, "Now they'll be here every day asking for things!" I wish this wasn't the case. I wish I could just help the one in front of me without ever thinking about the consequences, but that's just not how it works here. So...the brainstorming. So many needs...how to help? One place that we have been drawn to (or repulsed by, depending on the situation) is our local "hospital". It is always overrun with sickness and death, hunger and disease. You can always find a few cases (such as hydrocephalus - very common!) that are not treatable anywhere in Karamoja and know that unless we help them, no one will. It is a bit overwhelming. In fact, sometimes I just avoid it altogether, on purpose, because I am afraid to get involved. I am afraid of what it will require of me. More visits, more time, more meals, more sacrifice. But it's on the list. You know, the list in Matthew? "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me..." Matthew 25:35-36 Its' on the list. And those are the things I want to do, no matter the more it requires. So...back to the brainstorming. We decided to go and take food once a week to the hospital. A HUGE pot of beans, a HUGE pot of posho, and a LOT of help :) We enlisted Zachariah's house church to help and set out to feed the hungry and visit the sick. It was an ambitious idea! We have been going to the hospital for about 6 weeks now, once a week. It has become our favorite night of the week. We cook food from 9 in the morning to late in the afternoon. When we go we meet all kinds of interesting situations. We get to walk through the health center and pray sick persons individually. We've prayed with a mother of newborn twins, we've prayed with tb patients, a man shot in the side, a boy shot in the abdomen with a bow and arrow, AIDS patients, etc. It is such a blessing to us! God has been so faithful to bless us as we try to be bring his blessings to others. Thank you for praying for us and thank you for giving. You buy the beans and porridge, the pots and pans, the plates and bowls. Thanks for your blessings. Zachariah was able to share with the people about the love of our Good Shepherd.
These videos were made by visitors we've had this last year. The first one was from Lee Price, and Andrew and Kerri Meador's visit a few months ago. The first half is Uganda, the second half is from his trip to Nepal. This video includes our sorghum harvesting pictures which I forgot to get from Lee before he left! This second video was made by Tim and Chera Kearns from their visit earlier in the year. Just so you know, the white baby is Selah, Michaela is the pregnant one, and the tiny little baby is Achuka! Very good pictures of our neighborhood! Thanks to the Prices and Kearns for letting me share their videos!!
We had another visitor last week. Leland is our "akathikot" (old man) friend from waaaay back when :) He visited us in Nepal and trekked through the mountains with us to play his harmonica in the villages. Once again, he came to share his skills (and he has 'em!) on the harmonica with us and our friends in Uganda. Kenneth, being the good friend that he is, decided to take him prayer walking in the village before sunrise. Kenneth, Cody and some local believers have prayer walked this village before and come back very sick, all four of them, with severe malaria. The feeling of darkness is everywhere. This particular village is very animistic. Their village is built around a huge rock with a cave inside where they believe a huge snake dwells. The snake's "cows" also live on the rock. In fact, they overrun the rock and the village. From what we can tell, they seem to be marmots, or some kind of rock badger. This time they went armed. They had spent considerable time praying over this village and memorizing scripture dealing with spiritual warfare.
When they arrived they immediately looked for a village elder and informed him that they would like to pray for his village. He agreed and joined them on top of the rock overlooking his village. After a few minutes more men began to show up until they were surrounded by about 30 warriors. Zachariah, our gardener, who has recently shown a huge gifting in evangelism, began to share the gospel with them. Using one of Zion's little plastic dinosaurs, he began to describe how we were created. "Once we were only a picture of a real thing, just like this dinosaur. Then God breathed the breath of life into us." He cupped the little dinosaur in his hands and breathed on it as if to show how it could be filled with breath and come to life. "God is holy and perfect. He created us to be holy like him. He wants us to follow His example and live our lives for Him, the God who gave us life. He will be faithful to love and guide us, and when our lives end, His breath will draw us back to Himself." Holding the little dinosaur up, he instructed them to think about what he had shared so they can talk more the next time they come. Imagine...30 warriors just heard the gospel, in a nutshell, for the first time. 30 warriors just learned how they were created for the first time. 30 warriors just heard God's plan for them and their families for the first time. Most warriors don't see "religion" as a manly thing. They have never heard anything about Jesus or His sacrifice. But we can see a change coming...the fields are white for the harvest. God is calling the warriors of Karamoja to Himself, and we believe that someday soon He will breath real life into their spirits and they will drink of the water that will quench their souls forever. "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14 Please pray with us for this village as we prepare to go back and share more with them. Pray that hearts will be open to the truth, and that God's spirit will move in mighty ways among these warriors. Pray that they will one day become prayer warriors for their own people. This life we live is blessed.
Some days we struggle to love and have compassion, and some days we miss the comforts of America, but every day we remember that we are so blessed. I don't mean blessed as in constantly-reminded-of-how-much-we-have blessed, but instead, God-is-here-with-us blessed. Life in Karamoja right now is easy. Everyone has food. It has been raining for one week straight. We are enjoying a time of closeness as a family full of football (soccer, to you Americans), reading books, making swords, baking together, and watching movies. God has been speaking to us about different things like being better parents, humility, and loving the "one" in front of us (check out Katie Davis' new book, Kisses from Katie, to hear more about that!) Life, in general, has been so good. And God is working. This week Zacheriah, our gardener, baptized two people from his little house church in the river. Water in the river is, in itself, a miracle. Rain in the middle of November is not normal. Enough rain to actually dunk someone in is even more not-normal! We filled up two vehicles of people and headed down to the "river" to witness with these two men as they begin their new life in Christ. Both chose new names for themselves to symbolize this new life. One chose the name of Moses, and shared of his wish to lead his people to freedom, just as the Moses of the Bible. The second chose the name of John, and told us of his wish to proclaim the gospel in the wilderness of Karamoja, just as John the Baptist did in the wilderness of his time. Everyone sang and laughed as the men went under the muddy water and came back up, wet and smiling. Later, at our house, we shared a meal of beans and posho and boiled sweet potatoes. We chatted about cultural differences and laughed about the strange things each of our cultures do. We talked more about the meaning of baptism, and another man expressed his desire to be baptized again (he was baptized as a baby). We thanked God, we washed our hands, and we went our separate ways. It was a blessed day. The next day a man visits. He is so thin his clothes hang on him, and he bends under the weight of them as he coughs...and coughs...and coughs. He has had AIDS for ten years and is now being treated for TB. He has been sleeping out of doors in whatever shelter he can find. He has no family, no one at all to care about him. He is too sick to work but has a few strong days where he can earn a little money sweeping someone's yard. He is soft spoken and looks down when I ask him questions. He eats a small plate of rice and cabbage and sits with us as the rain comes down. Monks and I decide to try a few songs together, me on the piano, him on the guitar. We sing in Karimojong... anakinai Jesu, anakinai Jesu...give me Jesus....give me Jesus. We sing song after song. And the man sits....and smiles...and smiles...and smiles. Later, after the rain stops, Kenneth takes him to find a hut to rent. He gets him settled in a house of his own. He tells him to come back to our house soon, and we will give him some easy work. They say goodbye and go their separate ways. It was another blessed day. And the days come...one after another...blessed days full of family, friends, visitors, work, school, chores, babies, music, books, life. Life to the fullest. Blessed life. God is here, in this place. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10 This has been a busy last few months full of visitors and teams from the US. It has been a really encouraging time for us to show our friends around Karamoja and have some help with different projects. One of the teams came from The Gathering Place church in Pineville, LA and consisted of Glen, the pastor, Will, the construction "specialist", and Ms. Elizabeth, the retired nurse. We had been a part of this church way-back-when, in our college years, and were so excited to have them come and see our lives here! They were so open to anything we asked of them, including medical clinics in the village, some construction and teaching pastors and church leaders. They were a HUGE encouragement to us, and we are so thankful that they were willing to take some time (and a lot of money) and come spend a week with us. Here are some pictures from our medical clinics and a few . Enjoy! |
Would you consider partnering with us financially to serve Liberia?Kenneth and Kristi Williams The Williams Family
Kenneth and Kristi
Nevaeh, 20 years old
Rikot, 20 years old
Ezra, 19 years old
Zion, 18 years old
Izzy, 16 years old
Selah, 13 years old
Acuka, 13 years old
Benaiah, 9 years old
Jubal, 6 years old
Jireh, 3 years old
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