Church & Safari in Africa!

Sunday morning we woke up and headed for University Baptist Church where I had the opportunity to preach through Psalm 19.  I got a real good look at Uganda's culture in regards to time.  When the service started there were 8 people there, but one hour in to the service when I got up to preach there where more than 50.  Time is not necessarily of the essence here.  I got to share with them how special God's Word really is and how meaningful it is to our lives.  David refers to it as pure, clean, right, and trustworthy and says it will enlighten your eyes, give you joy, and last forever among several other things.  It was a great service and my prayer was for people to leave challenged and encouraged to study, live out, and teach God's Word!

We all went to lunch in the city and then after lunch Joy and I went off on our own through the city looking for the market to buy some fruit so Ruth could show Joy how to make juice and so I could drink it!  It was an awesome excursion and got to see some of the real life flair of Mbarara.  This is Joy with one of the little girls from the church.  We spent the rest of the day with Joel and Jill just catching up, sharing stories, talking ministry, and just loving on one another.  It was so good for all of us.

Today we went to Queen Elizabeth National Park for our first ever safari experience and it was a blast.  We were greeted by dozens of monkeys right as we entered the park along with lots of warthogs and water buck.  On our way to the lodge for lunch we came upon an enormous elephant who did not want us to come any closer, so we slowly backed up and let him pass.

The highlight of the day was a boat ride through the channel.  We saw literally hundreds of water buffalo and hippos up close and personal.  We spotted several crocs along the bank, but none large enough to be a threat to any of the other animals around.  We also saw one large elephant on the side of the channel who just posed for us for about 5 minutes and about 10 others at the end of the channel, 2 of which pushed each so deep into the water they disappeared.  Unfortunately my camera was already full of video and had a dead battery by then.  It was a National Geographic moment.  It really did put us in awe of God's creation!


Tomorrow I will be teaching 2 separate groups in the afternoon.  I will be teaching about 12 teenage guys in a local discipleship program along with about 11 AIM missionaries stationed here in Mbarara who are on Joel and Jill's team.  Thank you in advance for your prayers!

P.S. Yes, those are hippos in the background!

Student Retreat

Wow!  Good day, but long day.

Joel and I woke up early this morning to go to a University Student Retreat about 1.5-2 hours away in a town called Masaka.  We picked up one student named Livingston and headed that way.  We found the first turn, but the second and third turns were a little more difficult to find.  We ended up going way to far and having to come back, but I got some awesome video of some cows and some cool pictures of a really neat church in a neighboring village.

We finally made it there just in time for the small group break outs after the first session, which Joel was leading, haha.  After a quick banana break we were back to the pavilion for my main teaching session.  It was such a privilege to teach 100 University Students who have such great potential to change Uganda for the sake of Jesus Christ.  I was asked to speak about having an impact through ministry.  I shared how Christ gave us the ministry of reconciliation from 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 and showed how Paul implemented the ministry of reconciliation through discipleship from 1 Thessalonians.  It was awesome!  I was able to talk with several students afterwards who really wanted to be discipled so that they could then disciple others.  So, I got them all hooked up with Joel and he will be doing the follow up after we leave.

We ate a traditional Ugandan meal at lunch with potatoes, beans, matoki, and some white stuff that tasted like sticky rice.  It was great!  Part of a traditional Ugandan meal means there is NO silverware.  That means we ate with our hands.  My kids would have loved it!  After lunch, Joel and I led an all guy session which was wonderful.  We really got to challenge them in the area of manhood and saw some lights clicking on.  We had a Q&A with the whole group and then where on our way back to Mbarara.

One of the greatest things about this mission opportunity for our church is that we can come and help, but when we leave, there is still somebody behind who does ministry by the same biblical principles we hold dear.  We are not leaving them alone!  Joel and I spent the whole ride back dreaming and planning a future trip for our church to come back to train about 25 University Students who Joel picks to become solid disciple makers.  There are students willing and waiting for an opportunity like this, but no structure for it at all.  This is Joel's heart and would love to see something like this implemented for long term affect.

We made it back and had some dinner waiting for us along with some of Ruth's famous Passion Fruit Juice!  Joy and Jill spent the day painting the main hallway and entryway of the Skinner's home.  Jill was grateful for the extra set of hands and responded that, "now it felt more like a home."  Joy quickly learned that painting in Uganda is nothing like painting at home.  They used rickety ladders, brushes with bristles of all lengths, and rollers that don't really roll.  All that to say, a job well done.

Tomorrow I will be preaching at University Baptist Church for Pastor Enoch who will still be at the student retreat.  I am looking forward to using God's Word to teach about God's Word from Psalms 19.  Thanks for your prayers!

Home sweet home!

After not being able to sleep until 5:30am local time, I finally fell asleep and slept till 11am.  We had planed to leave by 9, but that didn't happen.  Oops.  We made a quick stop at a local store and I quickly learned you can't buy just 1 banana, you have to buy a large bunch of like 20.  Needless to say I put it back and stuck with my Coca Cola.

I just thought the drive last night was a little crazy.  That was nothing compared to our drive through Kampala.  Thankfully, Joel has figured out the driving here in Uganda, but it didn't make it any less fist clinching.  I think being able to see during the day made it even worse.  Just imagine driving in rush hour traffic in Dallas, bumber to bumper.  Then add thousands of motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic.  Then add people walking across the roads and down the streets.  Then add people coming up to your cars selling water and other food products.  Then add no speed limits or road signs.  Then add the some pretty rough and bumpy roads.  Then add road construction.  Multiply that times 10 and you've got it.  It was awesome!

We used the 3 hour car ride to catch up and talk about African life and culture as well as ask every question in the book about stuff we saw as we drove.  We made a stop at the Equator for the typical tourist picture of Joy and I on each side of the hemisphere.  We got some chipatis (tortillas), chips, and guacamole and continued on our way.  One of the highlights was seeing some zebra in the wild as well as some native African deer. The unfortunate thing is they have their own version of longhorns here called Angola cows, which Joel was quite proud of being a TU fan.

We got to their house and caught up with Jill and the kids, met their compound guard David, one of their helpers Ruth and her sister, a young single doctor who is a part of the family Viki, and all their cats and dogs.

We tagged along with Joel and Jill as they spent some time with a young couple doing premarrital counseling in a little corner outside their local church.  It was probably the highlight of the day seeing Joel and Jill in their "element."  I remember Joy and I getting the same talks from Joel and Jill many years ago and know how much of an effect it has had on our marriage and know it will have the same on theirs.  Joel made the statement, "The way to change Uganda is to have solid believers marrying one another and setting an example for others to follow."  This is discipleship at its best...hoping to have a long term affect by taking people to the next level in their love and faith in Christ.

Afterwards I met 2 young guys playing basketball next to the church and played a quick game.  I met a guy named Livingston who was helping to get things ready for the student retreat this weekend and was excited about going.  We came back for some of Ruth's famous pizza and enjoyed a laid back meal together and talked into the night.  We will spend some time prepping today for the retreat and go and see some more of the town.

Please be praying for God to use Joel and I to speak truth to these students from God's Word and that the Holy Spirit would enlighten their eyes to see the truth.

We made it!

We're here!  After 4 flights, 3 customs checks, and one amazing midnight drive through Uganda we are finally here after only 28 hours.  The most exciting part of the trip had to be running through the Atlanta airport trying to catch our first international flight to Amersterdam!  We got off the train and started running and we were the last ones on the plane before they shut the door.  All our bags made it as well as the couple bags of stuff we brought for the Skinners to leave here.  We had a great driver named Billy who drove the 45 minute drive from the airport to the AIM house.  He was great, but driving at night, on the wrong side of the road, with no street lights, motorcycles zipping around you like crazy, and people walking on the road lends itself to a pretty adventurous drive!

All that to say, we are so glad to be here and so grateful God has give us this opportunity.  It is so worth it.  I was so glad to get to wrap my arms around Joel and give him a big hug.  Joy had to push us to bed so that we could get some sleep, otherwise we would have kept talking for a while.

So...there are plenty of praises to go around.  Glory to God!

Tomorrow we will wake up, eat breakfast, and head to Mbarara.  Joel said it should take about 3 hours now that the roads have been fixed.  It used to take him 6 hours when they first came several years ago.  Insert another praise here!

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts

Unganda...Here we come!

That's right...Joy and I are planning to go to Uganda again to minister alongside Joel and Jill Skinner.  I say "again" because as most of you know we have been through this once before.  Last September we had our tickets booked, prayer calendar sent out, shots and meds scheduled, etc., but God had different plans.  I ended up having an emergency appendectomy and the doctors advised us not to make the trip.  I was more upset about the trip than by stomach being cut open in 4 different spots.  Nonetheless, God was in control and his timing is perfect.  God is rarely early, always on time, and never late!

We will be leaving on Valentines Day, February 14, and returning February 23.  That is just one week away!  We are excited, but there is still a lot to do.  We would love your prayers during this time and I have attached a PRAYER CALENDAR for the month of February for you to print off and pray through each day.  We know that your prayers will be the power behind the effectiveness of this trip in God's eyes.  Please join with us in this mission to take the gospel to the nations!

We will be doing several things while we are there.  1) Teaching at a University Student retreat on Saturday. 2) Preaching at University Baptist Church on Sunday.  3) Planning a future trip for The Fields Church and others to join the Skinners in their attempt to make disciples among the nationals in Uganda.  4) Working on discipleship curriculum that will be easily passed from one to the other for several generations of disciple making.  5) Possibly the most important thing we will accomplish while in Uganda will be encouraging and blessing 4 faithful missionaries who have given their lives to spread the gospel around the world.  I can't imagine church planting by myself, much less being a missionary around the world without my closest friends and family.  We are so proud of them and proud to partner with them for the sake of God's kingdom and His Church.  

Again, thank you for your prayers and support for this trip that started last year.  We are grateful for all of you who are a part of what is happening in and through The Fields Church through your involvement, prayer, and support.