A not-so-atypical day in Uganda

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was fine- no turkey, but we did have some ham, green beans, and potatoes. Today has been a difficult day, but not all that atypical of some of the things that happen here on a daily basis. But, let me begin by sharing what happened over the weekend with one of the two cats here. Chipiana was a great cat (and I'm not really a cat person). She was fun to watch, and she would endure almost endless abuse from our kids in a very patient way. On Friday afternoon, we arrived home to find her left paw with some very deep cuts on it, and it appeared her leg might have been broken. Most likely she got into a fight with some dogs outside of our compound. I tried to locate the number of a vet on Friday night and finally got two numbers, but neither answered her phone. Saturday morning, Chipiana was getting worse, and I finally did get in touch with a vet, but she said she could not come until Monday to see the cat because she was out of town. Chipiana spent most of the day in hiding and undoubtedly in great pain. About 4 AM Sunday morning I heard a cat crying under my bed. It was Chipiana and she was in very bad shape. I made up a bed for her to try to make her comfortable, but things weren't looking good. Sunday morning when we left for church, she was just lying in the same place I left her and deteriorating quickly. When we returned from church, she had died. This was devastating for our kids as this was their first experience losing something they cared about and loved. We buried her up on the hill and allowed the kids to share some of their favorite Chipiana memories. I have been really troubled by this whole thing ever since she passed away wondering what I could have done differently. I just felt so helpless. I mean in the States I could have had her patched up and she would have been fine, although her leg would probably not have functioned 100%. But here it's just difficult to do even the most basic things one takes for granted in the U.S.

So this morning I got up still troubled by the events of the previous day. Our guard, Grace, informed me that we were not getting water and that we were down to a tank and a half of water remaining. We have city water (we still have to filter or boil it before drinking), but since we live high on a hill, it sometimes doesn't get all the way up here. So I have a number to call to get this fixed. Because this happens pretty much every other week or so, we have 3 large water tanks. One catches rain water from the roof, and the other two store city water when it is coming up to the house. Grace also showed me a leaking water tap that had been "repaired" the week before by a plumber. So I called the plumber to get him to come back out. I had Grace turn off the water from the tanks so that we would not waste the water in the tanks through the leaking pipe. Of course this meant we would have to do without water inside until the leak was fixed, but it was time to conserve. About this time, the power went out; this is an almost daily occurrence here. A few minutes later I got a text message from the internet company saying the internet was down, and to "bear with them" because they were working on the problem. Then I tried to call the water company, but none of the phone numbers for the water company would work. I tried consistently for 3 hours to reach them to no avail. Finally I gave Grace 5000 shillings to take a boda (a motorcycle that carries people on the back) to go to the water company office. He was successful in getting them to commit to sending a tech out tomorrow to fix our water. Whether or not that happens waits to be seen. Finally, about 3 PM the plumber finished repairing the leak, a 4-hour job for him that I don't think should have taken nearly that long. But he had to go buy a part that he needed, so I had to give him money for the part and for taking the boda to go get the part. Plumbers here don't carry a lot of materials with them. At least this one brings his own tools; most others don't.

So we were finally able to turn the water back on to the house. The power, however, is still out as I write this. About 4:30 I cranked up the generator so that we could keep the food in the fridge and freezer from spoiling. Plus I needed to pump the water from the rain water tank up to the other two tanks so that it can get into the house. So we're good to go for now on generator power, we have enough water for at least a couple more days, and the internet is back up so I can send you all this email! Only problem will be tonight when it's bath time. We won't have hot water because the generator isn't powerful enough to run the water heaters. But this is only a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things and may be for the best since we need to conserve our water anyway.

Between all of the events of the day, I actually did manage to get some work done. I pulled together some community development material for our radio programming in Sudan, although with only limited success since I had no internet and limited battery power on my laptop. I also spent some time learning some Bible stories that we share with the Sudanese on our trips. And the kids had a good day of school.

In spite of all the troubles today, we are still much better off than the large majority of people who live here, so we are careful not to complain, although sometimes I feel like letting loose! What's really twisted is that I actually feel good about today and count it as a success. It certainly did not go as I had planned, and it was full of challenges, but God has used them to stretch me and to humble me. I know the things I learned today will help me better minister to people here and in Sudan as well. I believe it was Clark W. Grizwold who said, "Nothing worthwhile is easy!" And on the more spiritual side of things, James reminds us that we should "consider it pure joy" when we "experience trials of many kinds." So we'll keep pushing on with joy in our hearts for the opportunity to serve here, realizing that our small trials pale in comparison to those others here endure, but still coveting your prayers as we continue to adjust to the different aspects of life here in Uganda.

Suzy, by the way, is still working on the write-up from her trip. A lot happened, and it's taking some time for her to process everything and condense it into one email. We'll get that up soon, Lord willing.

Suzy left with her team for Kulu, Sudan this morning, and they arrived shortly after lunch. Praise the Lord, they were able to land at the nearest air strip (a town called Mvolo) which is about 12 miles away from the ministry location. The team was planning to meet with local officials in Mvolo this afternoon to get permission to go into the Kulu area. Please keep this in your prayers- the local officials are from the Dinka tribe, and they may not allow this team to go to Kulu since they are ministering to the Jur Modo people. There has been some insecurity in the area recently. Our contacts on the ground assure us that the area is safe, but the local officials may use this as an excuse to not let them go on to Kulu. The team has been in prayer over this situation for several weeks and still feels that God is leading them to go to Kulu, so pray that things will go well with the officials and that they will be granted permission to go.

I should give you a little background on Kulu and the Jur Modo people who live there. Aid Sudan's Executive Director, Peter Swann, lived among the Jur Modo for over two years. They are a small tribe with their own unique language who have had some exposure to the Gospel, but have never given over their allegiance to God. They still choose to serve the local witch doctors and spirits in the area. There are currently no missionaries working with the Jur Modo. Peter has returned to Kulu with an Aid Sudan team almost every year since he left. Last year when another Aid Sudan team went to Kulu, they were able to lay the groundwork for what we believe will be an incredible harvest among the Jur Modo people. It is going to be a great spiritual battle over the next week, and this team will be on the front lines. They desperately needs your prayers for strength, perseverance, and protection. We know that Satan does not want to see these people come to accept the Truth. He has already tried in many ways to prevent this team from coming (the air strip issues and now the local officials plus a few other things that have come up), and he will continue to work to make things difficult. But our God is greater and more powerful, so please pray that the hands of the enemy will be bound and that the team will be able to share the power of the Gospel with these people who have lived in spiritual bondage for so long. In particular, there are many among this tribe who are demonized. Please pray that God will move with great power through the five people on this team and that as people are healed and delivered that others in the village will see the power of God at work and transfer their allegiance to Him.

Here are the names of the other four team members- Peter Swann, Beverly Swann, Sarah Thompson, and Bobby Lee. I will post additional updates as I receive them from the team.

Through your prayers you are a essential part of what God is going to do in Kulu among the Jur Modo over the next 9 days. Thanks and many blessings,

Bob

We made it to Uganda!

We are happy to report that we made it safely to Kampala. I can't tell you how excited I am to write our first newsletter from Uganda! Thanks so much to all of you who have supported us and made it possible for us to be here. None of this would be possible without you!

Our trip over was smooth, but long. We had 2 flights, both over 8 hours with a 3-hour layover in Amsterdam. God blessed us right at the beginning of our journey. First, the lady who checked us in at the KLM counter had a broken scale so that removed any stress related to bags that might have been overweight. Then, she also allowed us to check our extra bag for free which saved us $200! From there, our flights were on-time and the kids handled the travel stresses very well. We praise the Lord for His provision during our trip!

We are getting settled in here in Kampala. We've spent the last few days getting our things organized. Everyone has adjusted to the time difference and to sleeping under mosquito nets. The weather here is amazing- about 78 degrees every day with a nice breeze and about 68 at night. We've had a few rain showers as this is the heart of the rainy season here.

We've learned our first word in the Luganda langauge- "muzango" which means "white person". I've been out running a couple of times, and I hear it dozens of times- "Hey muzango" or more commonly "Bye muzango". Running here is great, but there are some difficulties. The paved roads are jam-packed with people, motor bikes, and diesel cars and vans, and they don't exactly yield to pedestrians. And when I run on the dirt roads, they are in such bad condition that I have to be very careful not to turn an ankle. Then there are the very steep hills, which is something I certainly didn't have to deal with in The Woodlands. Finally, I get lost very easily. Since there are no street signs and the roads are so windy, it is a challenge to find my way back. Today I ended up running an extra 2 miles because I missed one of my turns. To be honest, I could probably use the extra exercise to work off those extra pounds I added while in the States! I often have kids join me for a short distance, shouting "Muzango, muzango" the whole time, which is a lot of fun.

Suzy leaves on Thursday for her first trip to Sudan. I will forward updates from her trip as I receive them over the next couple of weeks.

Here are a few things to be praying for:

1. Pray for Suzy's team traveling to Kulu. We just found out that they have cleared the nearest air strip which is a tremendous blessing because now they will only have to walk 12 miles from the air strip instead of 18. Pray for safety and protection for this team and that the Lord will give them many opportunities to share the love of Christ with the Jur people.
2. Continue to pray for us as we transition to life here in Africa. There are many challenges here. In particular, pray for us as we learn to drive (big challenge!) and for the kids to make friends.
3. Pray that we will be able to find a house. Specifically what we would like to find is a compound that has 3 or 4 houses on it. We would then be able to have 2 or 3 Aid Sudan families living on the compound and have a guest house for the short-term teams that come in. We have 16 teams coming in next year, so it would be a real blessing to have plenty of space to house them. And it would be great for our team to be together in one place instead of spread out around the city.

Thanks again for your prayers and support! Hope you all have a blessed week!

Bob, Suzy, Elise, Brody, and Milenia