Sssss is for Sssnake. Eeee is for Eeeemun!!

More snake excitement.
Earlier this week, as I was walking back to my banda, I saw a snake in the grass. The good thing about most snakes is that they will move away from you when they realize you're coming. So it did move away from me, but unfortunately it moved TOWARDS our banda. I think it must have a hole somewhere in the tall grass around our hut. We called Papa Lokwii to walk around with his stick and look for it, but it's still out there somewhere. It looked fairly long (probably 4 ft?) and was a medium/dark green with two yellow stripes down the length of its body.

This second snake story, which took place just this afternoon, I did NOT witness, but I got the full account from several eye-witnesses. Josh was walking out to his shop when he noticed the cat, Timu, hissing furiously at something. He saw it was a snake and that Timu was trying to protect her two kittens from it. Josh, Ruffin, Jamie and the guard, Akol were all present at the Death of the 7 1/2 Ft. Forest Cobra. Akol knocked it on the head a couple times with his stick, and Jamie threw stones at it. Even after its head was smashed in, its reflexes caused it to twist and curl around on the ground for several minutes after it was dead (I've seen the video, it's horrifying). There were four toads in its stomach, two of which were still alive and moved around a bit after they were cut out, but then they died. We think it was going for one of Timu's six week old kittens. The boys dissected it (the heart kept beating for a long time after it was dead), skinned it, and are now curing the skin to make it into a snakeskin belt or guitar strap. I saw the skin just a little while ago... even with 1 1/2 feet of the length cut off (you can't use the head or smaller part of the tail for a belt) it is still REALLY long. The skin feels pretty cool but it's starting to dry out too much so they need to oil it, and then salt it to keep it from getting smelly.

Snakes are just a part of life here. A very unwelcome part of life. Now that it's the dry season and they're looking for water, we're sure to see more, so please pray for us, that we would be diligent in taking precautions, but that we would not be too paralyzed by a fear of them. The fact that Erika and I have now had three snakes right outside our hut (two dead, one still unaccounted for) is pretty scary, but we have to go on with life. We still need to walk around at night, we need to take certain paths to get certain places.

Some precautions we take:
Never walk at night without a good flashlight. You can't really enjoy the scenery when you're walking, you have to look at the ground. If you want to stargaze or just enjoy the mountain view, it's best to stop and look, and then keep walking when you can pay attention to your surroundings.

Stomp when you walk. It's not graceful or ladylike, but the snakes feel the vibrations.

Don't leave any water sources around the banda. The snakes are thirsty.

Shake out boots before putting them on. NEVER put your hand where you can't see.

The T's had a black mamba that wasn't much bigger than a worm. They still have venom. All snakes should be killed unless someone can confirm it's not poisonous (some are actually helpful, they eat rats.)

Never a dull moment. These critters keep us on our toes, that's for sure!

Rain's gone. Here comes the fire.

We're definitely in the dry season now. The rains are gone, the wind is blowing, the sun is hot, and the wildfires have started. Last night there was a noticeable haze of smoke over the whole compound, although we couldn't see where the fire was burning. Some of these fires are caused by people intentionally burning their fields - to remove brush so the enemy (the Pokot, or other raiders) will be more visible (probably for agricultural reasons too, but I don't know how that all works); some fires are started by shepherd boys who are hungry for some BBQ rat, so they burn the fields so the rats will run out. The problem in both cases is that these fires can easily get out of control, and there's no fire department in Nakaale. The missionaries tell me that fires are to be expected and can get quite scary, but Bob plows a break line around the mission, and the guards keep the area watered so that, hopefully, the fire won't jump onto our land. They've never had a serious fire here on the mission, so I'm not too scared, but there have been some close calls. So you can pray over the next few months that we, and especially our neighbors living in thatched huts, will be protected from the wildfires.

RP Missions Countdown

I am so thankful for the way the Lord has blessed me through my RP Missions trips. Not only have I fostered wonderful friendships and had some truly once in a lifetime experiences during my trips to White Lake Covenanter Camp, Airdrie and Inverness, Scotland, and Karamoja, Uganda -- I've also learned so much about myself. I've learned that the Lord has given me particular gifts that can be used in His kingdom, and that I should not be afraid to seek a way to use those gifts for His glory. I know that it's no accident that God has given me a desire to work with children. He has been growing my abilities in this area for as long as I can remember. God opened my eyes to the idea that this love for children is not restricted to comfy middle class American kids -- this particular gift has opened the door for me to work practically anywhere in the world. Through RP Missions, I've discovered, wadio wadio (slowly slowly!), that surrendering your life to the Lord isn't scary, and it's not a sacrifice. It's an immense blessing. My life is more fulfilling and exciting than anything I ever could have planned for myself -- God has been leading me to a wonderful (not necessarily easy, but joyful) life of ministry.

I am so indebted to RP Missions for helping me through the baby steps of missions. Now I'm beginning to crawl, I guess... but I'm still a baby here on the field. I still need guidance and help. So far, I've been blessed by wonderful counsel and encouragement along the way.

There are others who have already gone through these baby steps, and now they're walking. They're running. They're out in the fields, reaping the harvest of souls that the Lord has prepared for them. But they can't do it alone.

RPM&M (Missions and Ministries) recently announced that there is a $50,000 deficit in their budget that needs to be met by January 1st. I have given to RP Missions in the past (very little, but whatever I could spare). Now I'd like to ask all my friends and family to consider giving just $10 to RP Missions to help them meet their goal. What is $10? One less strand of Christmas lights and one less Christmas-y frappacino at the mall? If $10 were given to RP Missions for every person who has viewed my blog, they could put another person like me on the field for six months; they could pay for the Cush4Christ team's Christian Education program -- twice! It's a small sacrifice with an eternal reward.

Visit this site to learn more about what RP Missions has in store for next year, and how you can help them meet their New Years goal. Only 21 days left!

In Christ,

Emily

'Tis the season!

It's strange to be celebrating the holidays on the other side of the world. I've had plenty of birthdays away from home, but this will be my first Christmas away from the family (cats included...). I know that Christmas is going to be a ton of fun, though. Erika's piano students will have a Christmas carol recital/party a few days before Christmas, Friday night we'll have a white elephant gift exchange, and Saturday (Christmas Eve) we'll celebrate Christmas with a big meal together (I think? plans were still in the works last I heard). Since Christmas is on a Sunday we'll have church, I'm teaching Sunday School that day, and then there's the Christmas edonga (dance) and also a wedding that I might go to with Leah (we tried to go to that wedding a few weeks ago, but found out it had been postponed till Christmas day because the priest from Nakapiripirit wasn't able to get to Nakaale through the mud). I'm not exactly sure how the edonga works, but I know everyone wears their best clothes and all the beads they own, and they meet out somewhere towards Atedeoi I think, and the men jump up and down in a circle and the women dance around them outside the circle. I think it's a prime time to choose a fiancee, so that will be interesting to see. But I'll tell you what it's like once I've seen it with my own eyes, Lord willing :) The dance goes all day and night so hopefully we'll be able to pop in for an hour or two. On Monday night the Knox's are having us over for a Boxing Day dinner party.

Last night Jenny (Baumgardner) Knox had me, Erika and Leah Hopp over for a girls' night. We did pedicures (my feet haven't been this clean since I left America... but we didn't scrub all our callouses off cause we need them!), had delicious Indian food (naan, rice, and daal... sooo good), and we just chatted and relaxed. It was wonderful. I am so blessed to be here with such fun, sweet, encouraging ladies. You guys are the beeeest :)

So, today I need to bust out some more TEFL lessons (obviously this blog post is just my way of productively procrastinating!). This afternoon several of us are going to get together to play board games before dinner. Since it's my birthday, they let me pick the meal tonight, but I'm not too creative so I just picked Mexican food. It's always delicious, especially here. I am learning to cook a lot of amazing things here, I can't wait to get back to the States and try these recipes at home. Who knew I'd have to go across the planet to finally learn to cook... but I'm starting to enjoy it. It's becoming less scary to me and I've only had one disaster meal (failed tomato soup and grilled cheese... just does NOT work here) so that's not so bad.

Ok. No more procrastinating.
Much love,
Emily

Could it be? Is it really the dry season??

There have been a couple days without rain now and it is very, very windy. The wind is nice... although the sun is bright and hot, the breeze makes it very comfortable. For now, at least. I've been told that when the dry season is in full swing, there are a lot of wildfires and the driving wind blows the sand everywhere. Just another feature of the Karamoja Resort and Spa: mud treatments, exfoliating sandstorms, wading pools, the malaria weight-loss program... :) The wind right now is ridiculous. I have never felt such strong wind in my life... and this is just the beginning!

We've had two false alarms already when we thought the dry season was starting, so I'm not counting on it... but it would be nice for the rain to be done so the roads will dry out. I'm sick of muddy feet and my flip flops being destroyed in the muck... and it would be good for the roads to dry out since different members of the mission have to drive down country many times in the next few weeks.

On Thursday the Wright family will be leaving for a ten day vacation down country. It will be quiet and boring without them (they bring a lot of life to this compound! I love those kids...) but it will also be nice to have ten days to organize life, work ahead on lesson plans, clean the banda and kitchen, and just relax for a while. I'll only be teaching from 9:45-12 every day. It's also wonderfully providential that they're going away now, because it will give me lots of time to complete my TESOL course, which I have to finish by December 23rd (and I still have 8 lessons to do, each of which takes several hours!).

My mind knows that Christmas is coming, but it doesn't feel like Christmas at all without snow... Erika and I do have a nice little fake tree in our banda (which she lovingly refers to as The Toilet Brush) with tinsel, colored lights and decorations. Last year's teacher, Amy Folkert, sent Erika and I a package of Christmas presents! It had candy, decorations, a card for Erika (who shared this banda with Amy for 3 months earlier this year) and a few presents. She doesn't even know me so it was so so sweet of her to include me in the gift.

I'm also having mixed feelings about turning 24 in a few days. 24 just sounds so grown up. In some ways it's great, and I'm so glad I'm an adult now, and done with school! But in other ways it's a little daunting because at this point I really need to start taking things seriously and planning for whatever's next... time to start making some serious decisions which could really influence my next few years, important decisions like where to live and work next year. But I'm excited that for the rest of my life I'll be able to say I celebrated a birthday on the African savannah :)

If at first you don't succeed...

Erika and I are hoping to start a kids "afterschool" type Bible study in the village behind the clinic ("after school" isn't the best term since most kids here don't go to school... but you know the idea, sing, play games, hear a Bible story). So today was going to be our first day. We walked down to the clinic and tried to mobilize as we went (shouting "apena akilip" and "potu daadang" to all the kids we passed on the road.) If not for a pretty intense game of soccer happening in the middle of the road outside the clinic, we could have had quite a group... as it was, about 10 kids came. Erika brought them to the big, empty building (the ward) and I went off to the village to get Rose to translate. But when I got to Rose's home, she was making dinner and said she could not come...
So I went back, gathered up Faith, James and Stacey from their banda, and went back to the ward. I told Erika that we didn't have a translator, but we decided to wing it and make do with our tiny vocabulary and hand motions. We taught them Red Light Green Light. Of course, these kids have never in their life seen a stoplight, or any road signs at all for that matter. So Erika had a piece of green paper with "apethi" on it, which means "go" (or fast? something like that) and a red paper that said "bas" (stop). These kids also can't read, but it was helpful for us to have the words written out. Basically we just demonstrated what to do and they had a great time...
We also tried Duck Duck Goose. Faith, James and Stacey are old pros at this game now. The K'jong kids seemed to enjoy it, but the problem is that they wouldn't say the words, or they would just whisper them. We tried to have them repeat after us, but they were too shy. So they would walk around tapping each head saying something like "duh" or just a general "uh" sound, and then when they got to the person they wanted to goose, instead of saying anything distinctive, they would say "uh" again, or they would just start running with no warning and we'd just yell "apethi! apethi!" to the one sitting down until they figured it out. So I think we should pick some Karamojong animal words that they can pronounce easily and use those next time. Dog Dog Cat (Ino, Ino, Epus)?
We obviously couldn't do a Bible lesson without a translator, so then we sat the kids down and attempted a few songs. Thankfully Faith knows the Karamojong songs pretty well so she actually led them for us, and many of these kids come to Sunday school and church occasionally so they  know the songs too. We sang Kire Ejok Akuj (super easy and repetitive), Kidyama Lore A Papa, and Yesu Amina Ayong (Jesus Loves Me). I was quite convicted that I don't know the songs well enough, so I need to practice those during the week.
Altogether though, the kids obviously had a lot of fun, our charades worked, and everyone went away smiling. We'll try again next week, hopefully with a translator, and we'll tell them the Christmas story.

ngaKaramojong Prayer

Yesterday at our language lesson, Rose taught Erika and I a simple prayer we can say if we come across someone who is sick or injured. It will take a lot of practice to memorize this (and, as Martha said, one missionary trick is to read prayers off index cards, because everyone closes their eyes during a prayer so you can get away with reading!). But I would like to try to memorize the whole thing.

Akuj Papa, ikilakara ainakin isua ngiboro daadang.
Ikilakara akiboi kaapei akilip ekonikiro.
Akuj Papa - kitangaleo ngikonei kosi.
Ka kidara ikes toyakaun kaapei ka isua akimor akiroit kon.
Papa Akuj, kotere erauni ekiro kon ngolo apolon nooi alotooma isua ikilipi jui jui.
Ngona ikilip isua kira iyong!
Agogong kapedori daadang ebunit a neni kon.
 Iyong Papa Akuj ipolo ngooi.
A lokiro a Yesu Kristo Ekapolon yok. Amen.

Father God, we thank You for all things.
We thank you that we are here together.
We pray in your name Father God, heal our friends.
Keep them so that they may be with us to share your Word.
Father God, we pray always that your name, which is very great, will be in us.
Hear what we pray!
All strength and power come from you.
Father God, you are very great.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

You Know You're In Karamoja When...

1. The internet is down for two days. Why? Because the cell tower (which we can see from our mission) ran out of fuel to power the generator (because there's no electricity here) -- this fuel shortage happens at precisely the same time each month, by the way -- and the truck carrying the fuel up from Mbale is completely stuck in the mud over an hour away.
2. You see an ant in your food, you scoop it out with a spoon, and you keep on eating.
3. Rose comes to the door. "Hemly! I have a jigger just here... do you have something?" Erika immediately responds "on the desk!" Yes. We keep a safety pin readily accessible solely for the purpose of digging bugs out of hands and feet. (Thankfully Erika and I haven't had any jiggers yet, but Erika did have to have a guard, Sam, dig a thorn out of her foot. He's apparently the BEST... he's so careful you don't feel a thing).
4. You're really not all that surprised to walk into lunch one day and see a dead Green Night Adder  in a cardboard box on display. I was, however, less than thrilled to learn that it had been killed just outside my banda. Papa Lokwii, the one who killed our cobra, came to the rescue again!
5. You can't tell someone their baby is beautiful, because they think evil spirits will ruin the child if you say that. So if you tell a mother that her baby is beautiful, she will just laugh nervously and try to get away from you.
6. Owls are wizards. Chameleons are demon-possessed.
7. You're walking to the clinic and you reach the culvert (small river) where several people are bathing. Yes, they are naked (could be men, women or children). And yes, they would like to greet you, talk to you, and even help you practice your Karamojong phrases... right there knee deep in the river.
8. You wake up to beautiful mountain views every day... and every evening the sunset looks like a spread out of National Geographic.

On Tuesday I went to the nearby market town of Namalu. First stop, Juliano’s nursery. Juliano is a really nice Italian guy who grows flowers, trees, etc. in Namalu. Leah (another MA, who does health education and literacy work) and Erika really wanted a REAL tree for Christmas. They came home with a real tree, but it’s certainly not your traditional Christmas tree J It has a long stem and a few big, broad leaves at the top, which have now been thoroughly decorated with tinsel and popcorn strings. Unfortunately, just this morning the tree officially died... all the leaves fell off  :(

I bought some beads at the general store, which I need to string together in time for the Christmas edonga (dance), which we’ll hopefully be able to attend. We wandered around but didn’t do much shopping. We visited a man who sells vegetables, and he gave Kipsy and I free bananas, which was nice. He knows how to keep his customers. J He was selling matooke (aka plantains, or green bananas – you cook them in oil and they are sooo yummy, they taste like potatoes), yellow bananas, tomatoes, onions, kumquats, and little green eggplants. I didn’t buy anything from him this time, though. I was hoping to buy some blankets or fabric, but they didn’t really have any out, probably because it was drizzling. After wandering up and down the market street, we went to Pastor Emuron’s church for a Bible study with the pastor, his family, and a few members of his church. Attendance was low (probably 8 people?) but it was interesting to hear them talk about Christmas. Leah was asking them what the average Karamojong child or adult out in the villages knows about Christmas. The influence of the Catholic church is very strong here, because the first missionaries to Karamoja were Roman Catholic. Unfortunately this means that most people here know a lot about Mary, but she is so overemphasized that they worship her more than her Son. The Catholics taught, first and foremost, that Mary is the mother of God… and they didn’t really distinguish that she was not the mother of God the Father. So they seem to place her even above the Trinity. Leah is going to be visiting the villages and sharing the real story of Christmas, and its relation to the whole of the Gospel.

            When the Bible study was over, we all climbed back into Pastor Al’s SUV (Kipsy and I had sat on the floor in the trunk on the way over… Erika rode in the back on the way home). And we proceeded to get very, very stuck in the mud. It took us several minutes of violently rocking forward and back, forward and back, spraying mud everywhere, before we finally got out of the ruts.

Oh, rain. It’s still raining like crazy – no dry season in sight. Our laundry lady/language teacher Achio Rose said that the people in her village are coming to her asking “Are these the rains of Noah?” For us, the rains are mostly just a pain – we have to break out our boots, we can’t charge anything and we lose power every night because there’s not enough solar power coming in… but for the people in the villages, they have to walk around barefoot in the mud, wade through rivers to get to work, and sleep on the floor in flooded huts. Their crops are being destroyed by the rain.

It was raining all day yesterday, and by the time me, Erika, Heather, Leah and Ruffin went over to the Tricarico’s for dinner  everyone was freezing. We were all decked out in our hoodies, jeans, socks, with blankets wrapped around us. I asked Mrs. T what the temperature was.

It was 68 degrees.

I’m becoming such a wimp.

After dinner, while we were sipping tea and eating gingerbread cookies, we started hearing popping sounds. In all seriousness, I said, “Ooh, are those firecrackers?!” And everyone said, “Yeah, firecrackers.” I did not get the sarcasm. Laurie comes in from the other room and says “Gunfire.” There were a lot of rounds going off, and the six night guards on the mission compound blew their whistles to alert each other and make sure no guards were sleeping on the job. We just stayed inside. Later we found out that the shots were coming from Alamacar, which is quite a ways away from us, back in the hills, but the sound of the shots was echoing on the mountains so it sounded very close. We also found out that the local militia successfully stopped the raid. The militia is made up of government-appointed locals who are allowed to have firearms to prevent raids – the rest of the Karamojong are not supposed to have guns, the whole region has gone through a disarmament). When I walked back to my banda around 9:30, I quietly greeted the two guards on the Wright’s compound who were faithfully walking back and forth with their bows. It was good to see them taking it seriously… I feel very safe here.

            

Reality Check: This is Africa

Well, the last few days in Mbale it was raining quite a bit, and we had received word from friends here in Karamoja that it had also been raining "too too much" in Nakapiripirit. Nevertheless, we prayed and set out for the journey around 11:30AM. Erika and I rode with Pastor Al and Laurie again.
The first bit of the journey is a real, paved road (lovingly referred to as "The Tarmac") -- but once we got onto the dirt [mud] road we knew pretty quickly that this would not be an easy journey. We hit three particularly rough spots. In the first significant stretch of slippery, muddy ruts we came to, there were other cars and trucks coming the other direction already stuck. We headed in for the ride (it felt a bit like being on a shying horse... if anyone out there knows what I mean... one minute you're going left, the next minute you're spinning right, you're turned sideways, tilting side to side, and holding on tight). There was one particular point when I really felt scared because the car was tilting and sliding and I was so worried we were going to tip over (and I would have been on the bottom side, getting squished into the mud! But God protected us and Pastor Al kept the car upright :) However, we did get legitimately stuck, and it took several backward pulls by Bob's massive Dyna truck to get us out of the rut.
Later on we came to a similar rough spot. Bob, Heather, Ryan (a visiting pastor from Kitgum) and Pastor Al actually walked out the course through the mud and planned the best way to navigate the huge ditches and ridges. We made it through without getting stuck. The funniest moment of the day -- we've got our windows down and Pastor Al is vigorously steering through this labyrinth of puddles and potholes, we're all quite tense and holding on tight and as we're coming over a tough patch someone standing on the grass on the driver's side says "How are you?" Pastor Al, spinning the wheel like a boss, replies "I am fine!" We just broke down laughing hysterically. How does it LOOK like we're doing?!?!?! We're basically going sideways through a muddy trench the size of my house! But Al's right, "It is important to greet!"
The last spot of the really daunting spots actually ended up not being too bad. There's a broken bridge at one point. Several men were standing around trying to guide cars through the water and up onto the other bank. We watched Pastor Dave in the car in front of us go in... it's up to his wheels... his exhaust pipe is underwater for a few seconds... he almost looks stuck... but then he's up and out. So Pastor Al just went for it and it actually didn't feel as bad going over it.

We made it home to Karamoja again. It's raining cats and dogs here. It had been dry the past couple weeks so I really thought the dry season was here. Think again. The climate change here is remarkable... the seasons have completed shifted. Unfortunately that makes it quite hard for the Karamojong, who can't easily foresee what to plant when... some have planted again in these extended rains hoping to get more of a crop. We'll see how this rain effects things here next year. As long as we don't have to drive in it, it's a good thing... but the Mission has to take several more trips south in the next month, so these roads can add a lot of stress and uncertainty to our plans. Please pray that they will dry up soon!

Many many good things (and a couple bummers)

Highlights of today:

*Chatting with Christi bright and early this morning (and yesterday I was able to Facebook chat with David and Christi, which was fun :P

*African tea at Chat 'n' Chino -- although Elizabeth's is still better :)

*Walking around Mbale with Erika. I got some bright patterned fabric which I'll have made into skirts sometime in the next five months... and I bought some earrings and a necklace. I need to keep buying beads so I'll have enough for the Christmas edonga (dance)... I'm told that when attending any type of celebration in Karamoja, you should wear every single bead and bangle you own. Forget about whether they match... just pile them on. I only had one strand of red akimat beads and one pair of green earrings, which is simply unacceptable.

*Refusing to buy into mzungu (white person) prices while shopping. One woman tried to sell Erika a skirt for 25,000 Ugandan shillings (~$10) when it probably should have been USH10,000 or less. They see our skin and double or triple the prices. One woman tried to sell me earrings for USH10,000 (~$4)  but I went around the corner and I bought some for 1,000 (less than 50 cents)! It's not that I'm so stingy... but it's not right of them to charge so much, and it makes it impossible for local people to buy anything at these stores when everything is marked at mzungu prices and tourists coming through won't try to barter. I'm not good at bartering but I hope I'll improve with practice. At this point I usually attempt a couple lower prices and if it's not going well I just leave rather than standing my ground and fighting for it.

*Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey with barbecue sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cabbage salad, rolls, beans (of course), and something meant to be pumpkin pie which was strange and full of small diced pieces of pumpkin, but it still tasted good. So, not your traditional meal (we knew it wouldn't be, with Ugandans catering) but it was delicious. Then a Christian couple who live here in Mbale and are friends of the missionaries renewed their wedding vows after the dinner, which was really sweet. :)

Not so great:
Being harassed while trying to shop... I wish we could just shop in peace, but that's not possible here, it seems.
No hot showers.
RAIN. SO MUCH RAIN. We'll have to see how the roads to Karamoja are tomorrow... who knows, we may be stranded here another day if the roads are impassable. Being stuck here wouldn't be too much of a trial for us :) But it would be difficult for the pastors and there were people here in Mbale who wanted to visit Nakaale for the weekend, so it would be a shame if our visitors missed their chance to come up.

But altogether, this was a good day :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our hotel is supposed to have hot water (we turned on the water heater half an hour ago) but, alas, Erika and I have only enjoyed half of the delights of the big city. Fast internet, yes. Hot showers, no.

So, in light of another little letdown in the form of an icy shower on this rainy evening, I need to keep in mind all that I'm thankful for...

I serve a merciful and loving God who has given me so much now, and has an eternity of joy and peace prepared for me in heaven. Every small setback here seems so insignificant in the light of an eternity with Christ. "O praise the Lord, O thank the Lord, for bountiful is He, because His loving kindness lasts through all eternity!" Psalm 106:1

I'm living out what I've been dreaming about for years. I'm in Africa. I've met amazing people and I have wonderful students. I am living in a frontier missions context, in a brick hut, learning a tribal language and making Christian friends in Karamoja who will be with me as brothers and sisters in Christ forever. I get to spend so much time with kids doing what I love. It's so surreal. I'm truly blessed.

I have a great family, church family and friends back at home. I have internet access and a Ugandan cell phone so that I can keep in touch with all of you, even though we're an ocean apart.

I am healthy. I'm safe. I get to sleep on a real bed, drink safe water, and lock my door at night. I don't live in fear. This is not a given for the vast majority of people in the world. Please, be thankful for these things. 

I could go on and on. I have so much. Most of all, I know that all I have, I didn't acquire by my own strength... the Lord has been so good to me. I deserve nothing... I'm given everything I need, and more, and an eternal hope which is worth more than everything else put together. God does not guarantee that I will always be safe, healthy, secure, connected. He may take all that away. He may call me to a much more difficult task than the one He's currently placed before me. But those circumstances shouldn't affect my real joyfulness and thankfulness. Those are rooted much more deeply. 

I hope you've all had a blessed and happy Thanksgiving! 

Love in Christ,

Emily

Asyomi ayong ngaKaramojong!

I'm loving my ngaKaramojong lessons so far. Theirs is actually quite a sophisticated language... more complex than I expected (why is it that our Western minds seem to automatically equate almost everything African with simplicity?). It reminds me of Latin and Greek in that (as far as I can tell, and I'm no linguist, so feel free to correct me) nouns have different endings depending on gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) - so we have to learn both noun and verb conjugations. Of course, there's only so much we can learn in the next five months, and the people we talk to will still understand us if we mess up our conjugations (I still haven't quite mastered "we" forms so I always use first person singular, no matter what... yeah I should work on that).

Anywho, for anyone who wants to learn a few phrases, just for fun, here are just a few of the many phrases we've learned in the last few weeks. "ng" = the sound you make at the end of the word "sing" -- "c" = "ch"

Ejok! (hello!)
Angaleo-a? (is it good? response "ee, angaleo" - yeah, it's good)
Ngai ekonekiro? (What is your name? Answer: Erae ekaakiro Ngakiru -- that's my Karamojong name, which is a reference to "the time of the rains" -- since the rain was CRAZY when I first arrived here. My teacher Rose named me).
Ai ilosi iyong? (where are you going?)
Alosi ayong lore/lodakitar/losukul/lotic/lodonga/locor/alo Mission (I'm going home/to the clinic/ to school/ to work/ to a dance or party/ to the water hole/ to the Mission compound)
Ngikonikaru naie? (how old are you? My answer: Erae ngikakar ngatomoniareiangiuni - I am 23).
Ngae ekiro nakaato kon? (what is your sister's name? Answer: Erae ekiro a nakaato kang Christi).
 ** Funny side note, I was learning to say "My mother's name is Beverly" and the Karamojong CANNOT pronounce that name. It was soooo funny to hear them stumbling over it... I finally just told them we'd call her Betty. Sorry, mom!**
Mam ngace (no problem!)

Now for numbers 1-20 (I might have some of the teens wrong... but I'll do my best!)
1 epei
2 ngiarei
3 ngiuni
4 ngomon
5 ngikan
6 ngikanikapei
7 ngikanikarei
8 ngikanikauni
9 ngikanikomon
10 ngitomon
11 ngitomonakepei
12 ngitomonakarei
13 ngitomonangiuni
14 ngitomonangomon
15 ngitomonankan
16 ngitomonankanikapei
17 ngitomonankanikarei
18 ngitomonankanikauni
19 ngitomonankangomon
20 ngatomonangiari

I can't even begin to write the 20s.  The teens are bad enough. Ridiculousness!

Green Garden

This morning we were on the road by 8AM on our way to Mbale for the quarterly Mission Meeting. Erika and I rode with Al & Laurie Tricarico. The roads were bumpy, but dry. We got chapatti (think homemade tortillas, cooked in oil... delicious) at a stand along the way, enjoyed the scenery, and tried to have good conversations although it's tricky with the noise of the car bouncing through potholes!

We arrived in Mbale around lunchtime, Erika and I checked into our room at the Green Garden Hotel, and then we went with Laurie and Josh to BAM, a grocery store. Erika and I went crazy buying everything we'll need (hopefully) to live comfortably between now and the next time we're down country (I probably won't be down again till Jan. or Feb. at the earliest... whenever we have our next mission meeting). Afterwards we went to Chat N Chino's, an American-style coffee shop. The service was slow but the food and drinks were good and there was wi-fi and... so wierd... WAZUNGU (white people) everywhere. Most of us were there for a while - all the teens, Martha, Laurie and Sunshine... then the teens scattered in a couple different groups across the city (they've grown up here so they're completely confident and know where they're going... which is kinda cool). Erika and I decided to stick around and enjoy the wireless and Coke floats for a while (Carolyne Scott would be proud!). We also met a pastor who is going to be coming to our mission Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, who is doing church planting work up north in the Kitgum, literally 2 hours away from any other Westerners.

Then Erika and I each nabbed a piki (public transport motorcycle) for the short ride from the cafe back to our hotel. I was a bit nervous about the piki but it wasn't too scary, although sitting sideways on a motorcycle in a skirt with a heavy backpack on is kinda tricky, as far as balancing goes. But we both had careful drivers who went nice and slow for us mzungus. We'll be taking lots of them tomorrow, I'm guessing.

We came back and got cleaned up for dinner. Our shower is literally a shower head hanging from the ceiling, a bucket on the floor in the middle of the bathroom, and a drain in the corner where you can dump out the bucket. No curtains or anything -- so the whole bathroom gets completely soaked. Poor Erika didn't see the water heater button you have to press for hot water (although I pressed it and the water still didn't get hot... oh well). Hot showers and fast internet are the two main things to get excited about when going down country!

We had dinner at Delicious Dishes, an Indian restaurant. Erika and I tried to get pikis in but neither of the drivers we hailed had ever heard of the restaurant so we let them leave. We ended up just walking down. The food was great and almost the whole mission came. The Wrights gave us a lift back to the hotel, which was nice, cuz Erika and I don't really want to travel alone at night unless we have to. I'm sure it would be fine, but it's good to be cautious.

Now we're just chilling in our hotel room under our mosquito nets. There's mold on the wall and the TV only has one channel (loud African beats, all the time!); our windows don't close and have no screens so who knows how many bugs and geckos could climb in tonight (Erika has already bravely squashed a massive moth)... but overall it's a pretty good room. The best part is we're splitting the cost and it comes out to $10 or $15/night each. Not bad :)

 Erika and I go down to the village behind the clinic about three times a week, to have language lessons with our laundry lady, Rose. After our lesson Monday I asked her son Tony to help me get a picture of the tiny baby goat. (Yes, he's named after Tony Curto -- he has a little brother, called Baby Bob even though he's five years old, who's named after missionary Bob Wright)

 Mom, this baby goat picture is for you. It's only a couple days old. SO CUTE.

 This is a picture of our (messy) banda. I'll try to get a better picture soon, but at least this gives you an idea.

 This is the church... nice view, huh? :)

 This is the Wright's dog, Herman. He insists on accompanying Erika and I whenever we go down to the clinic. He's usually fine, although a couple weeks ago he got into a fight with one of the nasty clinic dogs and came home with a huge bloody gash on his neck. Poor Herman.
The Karamojong pronounce his name "Chairman." They call the other dog, Jackal, "Chuckles."

James and Stacey. Way too cute. This much adorableness should be illegal. It helps that on this 80+ degree day their concerned caregivers put them in long pants and that amazing hat. It's chilly here in Karamoja. Today I saw so many guys in puffy down parkas.

In other news, while shopping, they had GARLIC SCENTED SHAMPOO.
There are no words.

Airplane pictures :)

I LOVED having a daytime flight from Brussels to Uganda. We were flying over the Sahara for at least two hours... here are a couple shots of the desert. Didn't turn as well as I'd hoped... but still, kinda cool to see the shadows on the sand. If you look very very carefully in the top picture, you can see a trail through the sands... from the plane I could even see some white tents pitched in the middle of nowhere. I cannot even fathom living in such a place. It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on....

And here's my little Rwandan buddy :) There were two others, including a chubby little waddling baby girl, but I couldn't get a picture of them. We played a lot and since they didn't speak English, I got to brush off my college French and communicate in the most basic way with them. Dr. Leon never would have guessed I'd be using my French here of all places! Little kid French accents are the beeessst. I'm so glad I had that empty seat beside me on the plane so they could visit me :)

Take a deep breath before reading this post.

Erika and I are alive and well today, so no worries :) But it was a terrible week...
First off, both of us got the stomach flu (or some unfortunate illness) -- Erika at the beginning of the week, and me at the end of the week. It's not fun being sick here... but we were fine. I got tested for malaria twice (finger pricks... not painful at all, thankfully) but both tests came back negative so they think it must have been the flu. So now we're kinda playing catch-up with our lessons, but we're not too far behind. Everyone here is pretty flexible because illness is just a regular part of life here... you have to work around it. Our student Kipsy had malaria this week, too, and Jimmy, another visitor, has been sick for a couple weeks. That's life.

The worst part of the week, though, was Wednesday afternoon. I was complaining in my last post about the monster spider. Well, we killed another one of those Wednesday morning... so I thought, man, Erika's sick, there's another nasty spider, that's enough bad stuff for one day. Ha!
That afternoon Erika was digging around for a receipt. I was up in my bunk reading reading for class or something... she pulled down a black Adidas duffel bag, which had been stacked at the top of all our luggage, at the end of our bunk beds, right next to our pillows. She's rummaging around in it for at least three or four minutes, pulling stuff out, digging in the corners, when she gasps and says "I think there's a snake in the bag." I'm up on the bunk so I just tell her to run and get the guard. She finds Papa Lokwii ("Lo-kwee"), an elderly man who works as our gardener. I could hear her talking to him, trying to remember the word for snake (he doesn't speak English). "Umm... ee-.... emun?" She told me when she said "emun" his eyes bugged out and he jumped.
At this point she wasn't sure it was a snake, she just knew she had seen something moving in the bag. Could have been a lizard, a scorpion, anything. But she grabs a broom and Papa Lokwii brings his walking stick, and he manages to hook the handle of the bag and bring it outside. As soon as he lifted the bag, I could tell it was way too heavy... there was something in there. He brought it out to the concrete block in front of the schoolhouse. I waited to make sure it was actually in the bag before I got out of my bunk (in case it had snuck out and was under the bed) but soon I saw Papa Lokwee and the dog jump, and got out of bed as fast as I could to watch the beating. He beat the snake to death. It was a five foot forest cobra... and we were later informed that one bite can kill an elephant in three hours. He smashed its head in and the blood is still on the concrete.

So, talk about God's providence. Erika had her hand inside a bag with a deadly cobra for several minutes and wasn't bitten. Let me tell you, she was shaken up. It was a close call. But she wasn't meant to die on Wednesday. God was protecting her and He shut the cobra's mouth.

We are now being extra careful (paranoid??) about ALWAYS keeping our doors shut and locked. It must have crept into the banda when we had the door ajar at some point... probably trying to escape the rain. It has been raining several times a day here (dry season? yeah, not so much).

So, basically, we survived. And Psalm 91 is our theme, I'd say. We survived the plague and the cobra. Another lesson in trusting God... we can't make it on our own here. Talk about a reality check!

We're fine now... it's a sunny day, we've got time to get our work done, and tonight we have a community meal so we can just relax. We're both feeling much better today.

Special thanks to Aidan Kharroubi, who has been praying specifically that God would protect us from snakes :)

Spiders, Sunrises and Sumerians

I've now been in Karamoja for two weeks... I'm finally starting to feel settled in here. My schedule's sorted out, I'm getting to know everyone, and the jet lag is gone. I'm off mefloquine (the malaria prophylaxis I was taking, which was giving me nightmares), taking doxycycline now. That should help.

Here's an average, weekday Day in the Life of an MK Teacher here in Nakaale :)

6:30AM -- I'm on the top bunk, right next to the window. The sun rises and at first the sky is grayish... I go in and out of sleep for a while, but when the sky starts turning pink and purple I know it's time to get up. It's really a beautiful view from my bunk... looking out over the savanna to the dim outline of mountains in the distance. I eat breakfast, make coffee and get ready for the day.
8:00 Literature(MWF)/Bible(T/Th) with Bobby and Anna Wright
8:45 World History with Bobby & Anna
9:45 Omnibus III (Great Books) with Maria Tricarico
10:30 Omnibus III with James Tricarico
11:45 Grammar/Vocab with Caleb Okken
12:00 lunch (rice and beans in the main house every weekday)
1:45 Heritage Studies (world history) with Mary and Kipsy Wright

Depending on the afternoon, I may go down to the clinic with Erika to visit our little Kenyan friends Faith, James and Stacey. Erika teaches Faith three days each week, and I'd like to go as often as I can just to play with the younger kids while she teaches. Erika and I  sometimes need to prepare food to bring to dinner at someone's house (we have dinner invites 4 days/week right now), or we may need to make our own dinner. I try to prepare the next day's lessons in the afternoons, because in the evenings we're often visiting with people and it's nice to be able to socialize without having to leave right after dinner to get back to work. But when my reading load picks up I'll probably have to skip out pretty quickly after group dinners.

Some highlights of this week:
- There was a HUGE spider in our banda (hut). It was as big as my palm, hairy, fast, and we could see its eyes gleaming at us. NOT OKAY. I really, really, really hate spiders, so I mostly held the flashlight, moved the furniture and poked it to make it move around so that Erika could squish it with my shoe. It was epic.
We have a friendly little brown gecko who lives in our hut, and we like him because he eats bugs. I'm pretty sure if gecko and spider had ever brawled, spider would have won, which would be sad, because I like our gecko. But the spider has been conquered.
- I went to the town of Namalu on Tuesday. I bought some things at the store there (we call it WalMart... but its actually about the size of a small living room). We had samosas at a "restaurant" (they pulled two benches out of a shack for us to sit on, and served our samosas on a real plate). Samosas are deep-fried pastry things filled with beef and onions. So good. They made us a fresh batch so they were hot and safe to eat. An old woman with a terrible sore on her leg was begging from us and almost snatched Anna's wallet out of her hand. On the way home we ran over a huge black mamba in the road... but it was already dead.
- Priya the cat just ran into my banda, chased something, caught it, walked outside with it and ate it. What was that? A mouse? A gecko? I'm so confused. Uhh... thanks Priya.
- It has been raining like CRAZY here. This is supposed to be the start of dry season but it's been pouring rain for days. It's always overcast and it usually rains in the evening, but it's rained in the morning a couple times which is apparently very unusual here.
- Last night all the visitors (me, Erika, James, Johnny, Ruffin, Britney, Joe and Heather) went over to Jim and Jenny (Baumgardner) Knox's house, and Jim played his bagpipes for us. After the typical Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace, he took requests. He had a kids book of easy bagpipe tunes... so he played Pop Goes the Weasle and La Cucaracha. HILARITY. Then we had some hilarious conversations after dinner about spanking in public schools (still happens in TX, apparently), various uses of cow dung, and the worst travel toilet experiences (one involved a pole to push pigs away). It was so fun.
Ok, I've got to go. This afternoon Erika and I have our first ngaKaramojong lesson with Rose, our laundry lady. That should be fun :)
I miss you all... hope all's well on the home front. I'd love to hear from you!

I've been enjoying the peace and quiet here, but I'm ready to have my friends back again :) It's boring being the only one on this compound all day! Of course I have plenty of work to do, but it would be nice to have a few distractions :) 

This morning Priya showed up and she's skinny now, which means she had her kittens and they're around here somewhere... I haven't found them yet. I hope they all survive :/

Last night there was quite a party going on out in the street - shouting, singing, drums, general craziness. To be honest, I was a little scared. The conga line seemed to have stopped right outside our gates and it was very loud, and my untrained ears couldn't really tell if they were just having a good time, or doing some scary witchcraft ritual or something... but Laurie assured me this morning that the villagers were just out drinking and enjoying the moonlight. 

This morning Faith (my brilliant multilingual Kenyan friend) came over, we finished her schoolwork for this week and then spent an hour playing Life. She kept asking difficult questions like, "what is stock?" or "I got the mobile home! Is this a nice home in America?"

Last night Heather and I went to the Okken's house for pizza and a movie with their kids (Caleb is 8, Megan is 5 and Jacob is 3, I think? Or am I totally off?). Sunshine is a great cook (she's very humble about it but the truth is... she can cook) and we watched How To Train Your Dragon which was such a fun movie. Little Jacob was afraid at some points and didn't totally understand that the big dragon died... but he still liked it. On Thursday night Laurie and Josh had me over to eat Indian food (something with paneer, the unmeltable cheese) and watch a super cheesy Bollywood flick, Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai. That was super fun.

I can't wait till everyone gets back this afternoon and I have my roommate back :) Several people were down in Jinja rafting the Nile on Thursday so I can't wait to hear their stories. Every Saturday night the whole mission gets together for a meal and we play bocce, chat and relax, which is a great tradition. 

And on Monday I start teaching! We're still ironing out my schedule (flexibility is key!) but in the meantime I am prepping for seven classes. 

I was feeling a little sick this morning so I'm going to take it easy, try to sleep it off and hope it's not malaria. But don't worry, if it is, I won't die! I'll get medicine and be on the mend in just a couple days. Erika and Johnny both had malaria last week and were improved enough after taking the medicine for just a couple days that they were still able to go on the Nile rafting trip. I think maybe I'm just dehydrated though. It's hot, dry and windy here so I've just got to remind myself to drink lots of water. Funny thing is, it feels hot here to me, but this is only the beginning! Give it a couple more months and we'll really be in the dry season with temps well above 100 degrees. I'm glad I've got time to acclimate :)

Most of the mission is down country on various retreats/errands/adventures right now, so it's very quiet here. The only ones left here are Laurie and Josh Tricarico, the Okkens, Jim & Jenny Knox, Heather and me. As the only mzungu on the Wright's compound during the day, I've been having quite a few conversations with the Karamojong guards, our laundry lady Rose, and the slashers (men who cut the grass by slashing it with sickles).

The other day I heard "Emily!" Iriyama Paul told me that something smelled very bad behind the schoolhouse, in the shady area where the workers sit down to rest. The schoolhouse also houses the kitchen, bathroom and shower that Erika and I share, so they thought that maybe we had rotting food or that our propane tanks were leaking. But after some investigation they determined it was probably a dead rat rotting under the building. Great. So today Josh is going to come and see if there is anything dead on top of the building; if not, it's underneath and we'll just have to deal with the rank smell for a little while.

The Wright's cat Priya is going to have kittens any day now. She's huge and she is desperate for food. I feed her a little more than the other cats since she certainly can't hunt in her condition. But she's becoming quite a pest and keeps trying to get into my banda. I don't want her having her kittens here, because then I'd have to leave the door unlocked and open all the time for her to come in and out. Although the workers here are very kind, petty theft is an issue here so we have to keep the buildings locked when we're not around.

Yesterday I went down to the clinic to teach Faith, the eight year old daughter of a Kenyan couple working at the mission. She is a brilliant girl and speaks four languages. Her little brother James (4) and cousin Stacey (3) were also there so I played with them. James speaks some English but Stacey only knows a handful of words. The primary language in their home is kiSwahili. Erika taught them Duck Duck Goose and they know Ring Around the Rosey (in kiSwahili!). They are absolutely adorable. Stacey's mom died of cancer just a few weeks ago, and her father and brother are working and can't care for her, so she's moved in with her cousins here. She's been very shy and sad and hasn't been eating much, but it was great to see her smile and laugh and play yesterday. Poor thing.

I have lots of lesson prep to do before Monday! SO MUCH READING. And the internet here is horrible, so I may not post too often, but I'll do my best.

I miss you all! Please email me or comment here -- Facebook is pretty unreliable so the best way to reach me is through email (emilygpihl@gmail.com). I'd love to hear from you!

Emily

Yesterday was quite an exciting day at Matoke Inn (the Africa Inland Mission guesthouse). Eight AIMers arrived yesterday morning... they will be staying in different locations in Central Africa, some for two months, some as long as a year. The six girls were all worn out and went to bed, but the two guys had the right idea (don't sleep! fight the jetlag!) so I was able to talk to them quite a bit - one is going to Arua, in northwestern Uganda, and the other to Nagishot, South Sudan. I have to say, it was SO nice to be around people who think like me! People who've got the Africa bug and are willing to give up a lot back home just to be out here doing the work they feel the Lord has called them to. I was really impressed by all these short-term missionaries and I have a lot of respect for their organization now that I've gotten to know them and heard first hand what AIM is like.

The big deal of the day, though, was that Phyllis Penner, who runs Matoke but is scheduled to move back to Canada in four weeks, slipped on the wet steps yesterday during a rainstorm and broke her foot. I was just sitting there talking to someone in the living room, and one minute I saw her outside, the next minute she disappeared and I heard a yell and she was down. Her ankle got swollen really quickly. So sad. She got it "cemented." Pray for her healing.
OK, got to go. More later. Time to drive up to Karamoja!

Matoke Inn

I made it!
Overall, my trip wasn't too bad. Our flight out of Pittsburgh had to sit on the runway for an hour, but I was sitting next to a Christian man and we had a very encouraging conversation for about two hours, which really helped my nerves! I got lost for 1 1/2 hours in Newark Airport (so many people pointed me to the wrong places!!) but in the end I found my terminal with plenty of time to spare. I sat next to a nice Belgian woman on that flight, but we mostly slept and her English wasn't too good so we only talked for about 45 minutes.

The flight from Brussels to Kigali to Entebbe was unlike any plane ride I've ever experienced. Everyone was walking around, talking, laughing, having a great time, hanging out in the aisles... I had an empty seat next to me so lots of people came and sat by me throughout the flight while they waited in line for the bathroom or got up to stretch.

Most of the people around me were Rwandan and only spoke French. There were three small Rwandan children - two boys, ages 3 and 5, and a one year old girl -- and it was so cool, it was like an unspoken agreement that they could wander around the cabin and every person on the flight was babysitting them. They were SO cute. They sat next to me in the empty seat and I practiced my French with the boys. We watched movies and they'd teach me vocab. I taught them how to make paper fans and colored with them. The little girl could only say one word in English -- "HI!" -- and she would just wander up and down the aisle tapping everyone on the knee saying "hi-eee!" At one point I was dead asleep and she said hi to me so distinctly that I woke right up and her little eyes were staring right at me -- she wouldn't leave till I said hi back :)

I met some young people going on a mission trip to spend two weeks at an orphanage in Kampala, and I met the pastor who runs the orphanage (with 1800 kids!). What a great guy, so funny and easy to talk to and earnest about his work. He really encouraged me and he invited me to visit Sifa International (his orphanage/school) whenever I'm in Kampala.

Now I'm at Matoke Inn in Lubowa, waiting to be picked up by Milton, a deacon from an Mbale church. He's going to take me grocery shopping in Kampala, then we'll pick up Martha Wright in Namugongo and head to Mbale for the night (we'll stay with the Wingards). Tomorrow we'll had all the way up to Nakapiripirit.

In other news:
-- I thought there was some strange exotic bird in the tree outside my window this morning. Nope, those were monkeys making all that noise!

-- Saw my first of many AK-47s.

-- Driving here will always scare me.

Last Day in Americaland

This past week and a half in Pennsylvania have truly been a blessing.

I got to witness one of my best friends get married (though as the Baby Wrangler I didn't actually hear too much of the ceremony!).

 I got to spend several wonderful afternoons of good conversation and a beautiful walk at Brady's Run with Brenda and Stephen.

On Sunday I was able to see family and friends again and worship at both the First RP and College Hill RP churches (and the McChesney kids taught me to make some pretty fancy paper airplanes...). Elaine Tweed feasted us and Meg Morton made me laugh SO MUCH.

I played Bananagrams and watched loads of episodes of Community with Jenny and Jason. (hey, Jason -- Careless Whispers)

I had so much baby time -- Peyton Halstead, Wade McCracken and James Curran are unbelievably cute!

 I splurged on the Canaan Conquest (twice!) at Beaver Falls Coffee and Tea Co. (milk and honey, cinnamon, espresso... amazing).

I went to the Pittsburgh Strip District, bought loads of trail mix and saw some headless chickens hanging from a ceiling.

I got a Kindle as a gift from a certain amazing person (*cough*Filbert*cough*).

And I even managed to get some work done in the midst of all this amazingness.

My flight leaves Pittsburgh at 12:30 tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'll arrive in Uganda at 9:45 Thursday night (which would be 2:45PM EST).

For those who have asked, you can still email me at emilygpihl@gmail.com, comment on this blog, facebook me or write me some good ol' fashioned snail mail. Letters and small, flat packages generally arrive in two weeks. My address in Uganda will be:

PO Box 1307
Mbale, Uganda
East Africa

Much love to all my friends and family. Next time I write will most likely be from the other side of the world :)

RPTS?

I found out a few days ago that as an RP Missions veteran, I get half off tuition at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. (!!!)

I would love to get the Missionary Certificate (one year, 45 credit hours). The question is, is it worth the roughly $7,000 it would cost to get this certificate... and whether to do this before or after my plan to teach in Korea. Part of me thinks maybe I should do this first, get all my loans under my belt, THEN jet off to Korea to pay my loans off. That way, once I'm done with Korea I can go to the mission field as soon as a door opens. Seminary classes would also prepare me well for the missions opportunities and tentmaker ministry I will have in South Korea. More decisions! More to pray about! Any advice?

This past week has really encouraged me and confirmed (as much as is possible on this side of the field) that this idea of long-term missions is not really so far fetched for me. With such supportive believers around me, at home in Rochester and here in Western PA, it's far less daunting.

What I'm really learning is that the Lord gives us the grace for each situation as it comes. He doesn't promise to prepare me NOW for everything I'll face and every decision I'll have to make, but I know that when the time comes He will draw near to me and not leave me on my own to follow Him in my own strength. No, He will provide both the path and the strength to follow it. His mercies truly are new every morning, to meet the new challenges each day brings. I hope you feel the comfort of this promise!

I like Pennsylvania.

I've had a great week here in PA!

Last Saturday I attended the Voice of the Martyrs conference Bound With Them. I couldn't possibly sum up all that I learned there -- check out the Voice of the Martyrs website to learn more about the worldwide persecuted church. Getaneh Getaneh spoke on the persecution of Christians in the Horn of Africa and North Africa, and Bob Fu talked about the house church movement in China. Gracia Burnham talked about her year as a hostage of the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, and her recovery after she was shot and her husband Martin was killed in a gunfight between the rebels and government troops.  It was quite an eye-opening conference.

I visited the church I attended in college, Providence RPC. The kids have grown so much! It was so wonderful to see old friends again (thanks Dan and Julia for letting me stay with you!) and to meet some wonderful new friends, like Desiree Curran.

Now I'm in enemy territory (Geneva!). I actually got to go back to my alma mater, Grove City College, with Matt Filbert and Brenda Gladfelter to rep RP Missions at the GCC Career Fair. It was strange to be back on campus, but good to see friends and professors again. I still get tense and anxious driving onto campus -- heart palpitations, dizziness... as if I'm back in the dorms and I've got a 20 page paper to write and 1,000 pages to read by tomorrow morning. I LOVED Grove City, but I'm glad the academic stress is past!

So many people came to our RP Missions table! I wore my Invisible Children t-shirt, which pulled in lots of Project Okello members. A lot of the people we talked to seemed very interested and filled out cards requesting more info. I hope many of them will consider serving on teams this winter or next summer!

Despite the rivalry between Grove City and Geneva, I really love being here in Beaver Falls. This place is just chock full of wonderful people, like Jenny and Jason Panella, Brenda Gladfelter, the Filberts, Stephen McCollum, and lots of White Lake friends. BFC&T, D&D and baby Filberts, what could be better? :)

Goodbye Rochester!

Urgent prayer request

A friend of mine who is teaching in Uganda recently sent these prayer requests. There is so much sin and sorrow on that continent which needs to be prayed over. Please pray that Christians would be strong in the face of great trials. Pray that children who are daily haunted by atrocities they've witnessed, and been forced to commit against their own friends and family, might be rehabilitated. Pray that they might learn and truly believe that God will love them and forgive even the horrible sins they were forced to commit after being abducted. Pray that many unbelievers might hear and believe the Gospel before their lives are cut short by ethnic cleansing and brutal attacks. Here is my friend's update: "But now for the important things. The Lord’s Resistance Army continues to make attacks in the Congo, continuing to abduct child soldiers. Please be praying that Kony would stop leading these men in evil and that somehow justice would come about. I was just told a story from a former child soldier. His name is Pepito. Him and his best friend were abducted together. At some point after being taken, a soldier approached them during a march and asked if the boys were tired. Pepito’s friend said yes and – like that- was shot and killed. This is just one story, and one of the tamer ones at that. Please, please keep these children in prayer. Also, fighting has broken out in the Blue Nile region of Sudan. I cannot say much, but one of my former ESL students is in the area and is known to be in danger. I wish I could give details but for privacy and safety reasons I cannot. Please pray for this man as he is a Muslim and did not know Jesus the last time I saw him. He is most likely going to be executed. Please pray for him by name - an American variation of his name is Joe. My heart aches over him because I never once shared Jesus with him… even though I had him in class for months. So pray, and think about sharing your love for Jesus much much more."

William Wilberforce

I got the movie Amazing Grace from the library this week. I've watched it three times now. What a beautiful thing - to see the story of a man such as William Wilberforce told in such a way as to appeal to modern audiences, without shying away from the passionate Christian faith which drove this man to seek the abolition of the slave trade... how good to see prominent actors used in a truly Christian, clean film... oh that the time those actors and crew members invested in learning about this man would lead them to open their hearts to the Gospel.

Pray that the Lord might raise up more men (and women) like Wilberforce! I've studied a little about him this week and I am truly amazed at his character, zeal, love, and abundant faith demonstrated in such selfless works of mercy. As a member of Parliament, father of six children, and one of the most influential men in Britain, he did not make excuses - as so many of us do - no, he spent time in the Word, in prayer, in communing with God; he actually sat down with his diary, made lists of unbelieving friends and acquaintances, and took the time to plan out topics of conversation he could bring up that would deliberately give him an opportunity to share the Gospel. Having inherited great wealth, he gave most of it away and founded numerous charities. He was very sick and weak, hated by many of his fellows in Parliament, despised and even physically threatened by slavers and the landed aristocracy, haunted day and night by the cruelties of slavery which he just couldn't erase from his mind; but in all this he persevered, knowing that God had clearly called him to this task.

Isn't it sad that today we look at people who are zealous for serving the poor and wanting to do good in this world, and shy away from that as a "social gospel" mindset? Isn't it sad that many politicians say they are Christians in their private lives, but assure their constituents that this will NOT affect their public lives? Isn't it sad that those in politics who are professing Christians are often viewed so negatively by the general public? Wilberforce is an example of a man who was a professing Christian in the public realm, at a time much like today in which nominal Christianity was the norm. He was highly ridiculed for taking his faith too seriously; yet his personality was so winsome, so joyful, so pleasant and easy, that people were drawn to him like a magnet. He was always laughing, just gushing with deep and abiding joy, and he did not hide WHY he was joyful. It was all because of Christ. I hope that all of us who truly believe would have such vibrant, peaceful lives that we too might be magnets to a lost and dying world around us which is searching in vain for that joy in everything but God. May I learn to profess the cause of my joy and contentment more plainly and without shame: "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior."

Urgent Prayer Request

Leah Hopp, an OPC missionary associate serving as a community health director in Karamoja, is being evacuated to Kenya for medical care. She's been suffering from a kidney infection for two months, and is now so weak and severely dehydrated that the hospitals in Uganda can't treat her. Please pray for her healing, that it would be quick and complete, if it's the Lord's will. She was well enough to post on facebook that she's "only mostly dead" - I guess that's a good sign?!

Praying for Christ's Ambassadors

My friend Tim Hopper shared this link from Justin Taylor's blog - Spurgeon on a Stupid Way to Read Scripture. Good stuff.

I'm excited - I get to go to a Voice of the Martyrs conference in Altoona, PA on Oct. 1 (if you're in PA, you should come too - it's free!). The talks are sure to be both distressing and inspiring.... how easy it is for us to forget the persecuted church. Funny thing is, from everything I've read, many of these persecuted congregations pray fervently for us here in America, that we might be strengthened and refined, if necessary, by persecution.

A couple weeks ago I got the book Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation. The first section talks about the state of the church around the world, and ways to pray for the global church. It offered these prayer items for long-term missionaries.  I found this list really helpful. You may, too.


"Pray for:
Vital, supportive home fellowship of believers who are willing to pray the missionary out to the field and keep him or her there through the years of greatest effective...

The supply of their financial needs. Many missionaries live sacrificially for Christ, in harsh and demanding contexts, with simple lifestyles and neither present nor future guarantees of income or security...

Adequate preparation for missionary work. This is arduous and long - theological training, ministry experience, language learning and adaptation to a new land may take years before an effective ministry can be exercised. Those years can be traumatic and discouraging.... it is more training - and not less - that will see healthy, growing, culturally appropriate churches planted in cross-cultural situations.

Cultural adjustment. Many prospective missionaries cannot make the adjustment to new foods, lifestyles, languages, value systems and attitudes. Some return home disillusioned and with a sense of failure; others react wrongly on the field and hinder fellowship and witness; yet others go too far in their adaptation and compromise their health and sometimes their faith. Wisdom is precious in such situations, as is an authentic biblical love for the people and culture where the work is occurring.

Spiritual vitality and a rich devotional life. In the role of spiritual leadership, as a living testimony to the efficacy of the gospel, often in isolation from other believers and as an ambassador of God's Kingdom in dark places, a missionary cannot afford to exist with a tepid spiritual life.

Protection from Satan's attacks. The powers of darkness are real. In many areas, Satan's kingdom has never before been challenged. Missionaries... must be able to discern between cultural differences and spiritual opposition, but the spiritual authority to resist evil attacks is even more vital. These can come through many means, including physical health and disease, attacks upon the mind and attitude, in relationships, and in physical threats such as violent attacks and hostage taking.


Family life. For singles, the missionary call may mean foregoing marriage for the sake of the gospel - loneliness can be a heavy burden to bear.... For others, family life may be made difficult by living conditions, inadequate amenities or lack of finance; long separations, many visitors, and excessive workloads may disrupt it.... children's educational needs bring to an end the field ministry of countless missionary families.

Calling and commitment. The assurance than God has guided one to a particular ministry is often the only anchor to retain workers in difficult situations, misunderstandings, broken relationships and "impossible" crises. Pray that none may leave a place of calling for a negative or superficial reason, but only because of a positive leading from God.

Built-in obsolescence. Missionary presence on a field could end suddenly for a host of reasons; when expatriate workers make themselves irreplaceable this can spell disaster for the health of fledgling churches and movements. Success should be understood as having been achieved when the missionaries are no longer needed for the role for which they came. The ideal goal of all missionaries should be to train their own replacements from among the local believers.

Re-entry - temporary or long-term - which can be traumatic."

Please pray with me for the strength and encouragement of our brothers and sisters overseas.

Revelation 21

¹ Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
 ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
 ⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

 ⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
 ¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
 ²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

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I was blessed this week by some good conversations, and even met (through Blogger!) another RP sister who's also interested in missions and in the same phase of life I am, and it was great to talk to her. I've been reminded of how important it is to keep an eternal perspective! I hope these verses bless you as much as they've blessed me... maybe they'll even stir in you some missionary fervor :)

In prep for my class I've read the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, and a good bit of the Federalist Papers this week. It will be really interesting to discuss these founding documents in the context of a country that has been so bitterly ravaged by dictators, violence and corruption. It really is amazing that our Constitution has lasted so long! For all that we may complain about the state of our nation (regardless which side of the political fence you're on), we have SO MUCH to be thankful for and have been for the most part spared from suffering and oppression which are commonplace and accepted in most countries around the world. Praise the Lord for that... don't ever take that for granted.

My bandamate Erika is flying out in just a few days! Please pray that she'll have a safe, uneventful trip and that she'll settle in well. She has a blog that she's used since her three month trip to Karamoja earlier this year - check it out if you want to learn more about the missionaries and see some great pictures and videos.

Checking off the to-do list this week:
Applied for life insurance. They have to come to my house next week and draw blood :( Of course, every time I complain about ANYTHING around here these days, everyone just says, "you're going to Africa, so toughen up!" I still don't like getting my blood drawn.

Setting up my appointment to get malaria pills (I think I'm going with mefloquine this time) and my Hep A #2... hopefully I won't need too many shots besides that.

Sending out my next batch of support letters. I've raised over 1/3 of my support, and I'm still saving like crazy to cover my college loans while I'm gone. THANK YOU to those of you who have supported me financially! I can't thank you enough.


Here's a map of Uganda, and that pretty red dot is (roughly) the location of Namalu. So, to those who have inquired, YES, I will be in the middle of nowhere :)

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  Titus 3:4-7

Finishing Well

I listened to these John Piper sermons yesterday and was really blessed by them. If you have a few minutes to spare, check them out (or if you can only listen to one, listen to Finishing With Joy).

Finishing What?

Finishing With Joy

Finishing Well in the Face of Death

My Kenyan Stalker

My dad preached at the Oswego RPC this morning, so my mom and I went, and I brought my photo album from Uganda to share with them. We had wonderful fellowship at the Plummer's house (and amazing food - she used to run her own Italian restaurant!). A lot of people asked me why I was interested specifically in East Africa. I gave them vague responses about my involvement with Project Okello at Grove City, a group which raises awareness about the use of child soldiers in East Africa. But WHY was I drawn to Okello in the first place?

During my senior year of high school I took several community college classes. I overheard someone say the library had four floors, so one day I decided to take the elevator up to the very top. There was no one there. I looked around and found myself a desk which made me completely invisible to anyone who might come in, and got cracking on my reading.

I hear the elevator ding. I ignore it. Then an African man with a thick accent turns the corner, walks straight toward me and says, "The Lord told me to talk to you. Can I sit down?" This is weird, I think, but I invite him to sit.

Now, let me clarify. Up to this point the extent of my exposure to Africa were the images of starving kids with flies on their faces you see on Save the Children commercials. Africa (and the Third World in general) was completely off my radar screen.

This man introduces himself as Ernest, a Kenyan refugee. Some of his family had been killed there; he and his brother managed to save enough money to go to community college in Rochester, of all places. We talk about our faith. Then he very bluntly says, "I had a dream that I would meet someone here who would become a missionary to East Africa." Later on he would email me telling me that he had prophesied about my work in Africa. Now, being Reformed, I took all this with a grain of salt. And he certainly had ulterior motives - he basically proposed to me that very day, and every other time we passed in the hallways. He really became a stalker and I spent my last few months there hiding in hallways and sneaking around corners to avoid him.

Nevertheless, whatever really happened that day, God's hand was on our meeting. Ernest's stories opened my eyes for the first time to the realities of the suffering in East Africa, specifically, and a seed was planted. So when I arrived at Grove City College the next year and wandered around the IM room during the Organizational Fair, Project Okello caught my eye. If I hadn't talked to Ernest, I wouldn't have given Okello a second glance. If I hadn't joined Okello, I wouldn't have learned so many lessons about the unbelievable power of prayer, and I wouldn't have learned about Uganda, and I wouldn't have gone to Karamoja, and right now I'd probably be a librarian, with not even a thought for missions work. So, God's hand was mightily at work every step of the way. Consider your conversations! They just might be the seed of real change in someone's life!