Hello after a long hiatus! Please click below to read our latest newsletter, if you haven't already received it from another source.
We have been thinking about the question of whether the time of this blog might be coming to an end. It seems fewer and fewer people actually read blogs, and they take quite a lot of work to maintain (hence why ours has become sorrily neglected!). Please, if you have found this blog indispensable, let us know. If you feel it adds something important beyond what our newsletters offer to keep you up-to-date and encouraged about what God is doing in our lives, please let us know, either through email or by leaving a comment. If you have comments on how we can improve its effectiveness, also please let us know. (Yes, we do know that we need to update it more to be useful!) Thank you and God bless! It has been a while since we last posted, but our most recent newsletter is up! For those who receive our email it should already be in your inbox, but for others you can follow the link here or click on the image below. With this update we decided to try something new - an update video, for channels (such as facebook) where text links aren't as effective. So if you want to check out the 3 minute video version of our update you can see it here! Please let us know what you think. We're still learning how to make good videos, but we want to use this medium to help get the word out to the biggest audience possible. So this is old news - but we had a team retreat this September! It was the first of its kind. We loaded up two vehicles with our whole team, as well as our Kenyan missionary friends who had come to encourage us, and headed off on an 8-hour drive to the slopes of Mount Elgon in Eastern Uganda, to a town called Kapchorwa. We stayed for 3 nights at a lovely place that we would highly recommended, called Home of Friends. The day we got there was quite rainy, and for our tropicalized team, quite cold! But we got used to it! We got lots of time to gather, learn, share, pray, and sing... ...explore the neighbourhood, including the nearby Sipi Falls... ...play games, and have good ol' fashioned fun! (though even the games, we realized, had some lessons to teach us!) Recently, a visitor from Tanzania (post on that visit still to come!) remarked, "You guys just really seem to enjoy being together. You really love each other!" My response was, "Yes we do!" Our team is such a gift - one we thank the Lord for every day. We are also thankful to God and to Emmanuel International Canada and to those who generously share their resources with Emmanuel International for giving the gift of this retreat to us as a team. It is not only a memory that I know will be treasured by each one of us, but we are refreshed for service, strengthened further in our bonds, and deepened in our conviction for the vision God has given us. So from all of us... THANK YOU!
Following the fire last year, when God started speaking to us about His plan to raise up and send out missionaries from Pader to the unreached peoples of the world, we were connected through another Emmanuel International family to a Kenyan couple named Patrick and Violet. At the time, they were serving in Mozambique, so we connected with them over Skype. We were so excited to be able to talk to them, being themselves African missionaries - but MORE than that, raising up and sending out other Africans to go to tribes that have no indigenous churches. Earlier this month, we were thrilled that they were able to travel from Kenya to be with us here in Pader! Just as there had been an immediate connection between us when we first spoke with them over Skype, we saw an immediate connection being made between them and our fellow Pader team members. Our original plan was for them to come and give the testimony of their call into missions to our Monday night missions prayer group. But there are also two churches which have youth fellowships on Monday nights, and we got the idea that instead of meeting with our small group we could combine the two youth groups and open up the invite to all the churches to come and hear their story. God brought far more people out than we expected! And for the thirty minutes that they shared, people were on the edge of their seats - us included! The question and answer period went on for an hour and a half! It was evident that for many in the group, what they heard was completely new. One theme that really emerged from the questions was the persistence it takes to live and minister in a group totally untouched by the gospel. Hard ground needs lots of time and presence. In one community where Patrick and Violet lived for 8 years, it took 3 years before one person gave their life to follow Jesus! This was shocking to those in attendance, since we live in a land where the gospel is everywhere, and one-night evangelistic campaigns regularly yield hundreds of decisions for Christ.
At the end, we asked if anyone wanted prayer because they felt God calling them to take a step into cross-cultural missions. About 20 people stood up, and we gathered around them and prayed - asking the Lord of the harvest to prepare and send out His workers! Will you join us in asking? Will you pray for these youth of Pader whose hearts have been set ablaze? This is a long-term vision, and we know it's only the beginning. We know we'll see Patrick and Violet again in Pader. As Patrick said, God always brings the right people in your life for the task He's given you to accomplish. We're so thankful for these friends who have quickly been cemented in our hearts! No, sorry, this post isn't about The Beatles! But this "Emmanuel Fab Four" are just as much superstars in our eyes! Shortly after we got back from Tanzania, we had a very special visit from four very special Emmanuel International workers: Paul and Helen Jones (from the EI International office) and Richard and Pam McGowan (from the EI Canada office). Richard and Pam visited us once before in 2017 but it was Paul and Helen’s first time in Pader, and Marianne’s first time seeing them since her Master’s internship in Malawi in 2008 - where she also first met the man of her dreams, who happens to be the one who took the photo below! The visit was jam-packed with field visits... …making meaningful connections with ministry partners… ...and having good old-fashioned fun! We're so thankful for the encouragement and advice that this fab group of four brought to us in just five days. We're incredibly thankful for their heart for the ministry and sensitivity to God's Spirit in guiding His ministry - here and around the world where Emmanuel International is working. Thank you "Emmanuel Fab Four" for coming and warming our hearts!
After a few nights in Kampala, and a brief stop at the Equator and the Igongo Cultural Centre in Mbarara... ...we headed to Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Southwestern Uganda - a mountainous, dense rain forest known for its primates (particularly gorillas, but we weren't trying to see those) and birds. It should also be known for being cold...we were sleeping in a tent in single digit temperatures, which is pretty chilly for folks used to nighttime temperatures of 25C and above! Then after a rather treacherous road down to the border (which involved getting a little bit lost and a little bit more stress!), we crossed into Tanzania and went to Mwanza to meet the Emmanuel International team working there! It was a really precious time together with this wonderful team, and we even got the chance to see some of the wonderful work which they are doing! We were so inspired and blessed by this very special visit. In the middle of the stay in Mwanza we scooted off to the Serengeti for 2 days with Jackal, before wishing him farewell. With the Serengeti so close, how could you not go and see this? It was surely a trip to remember! We are so thankful to the team in Mwanza, especially the Monger family, for their love and hospitality, and to our friend Jackal for coming all the way from Canada and making it possible. And we thank the Lord, for all His glorious creation we got to see, and keeping us safe (and sane!) for 3,970 km!
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October 2021
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