Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This has been a wonderful time for our family here in Uganda as we were able to spend the holidays with my parents.  They arrived on December 3rd - the boys, Neltia and myself were so excited to see them again and be with them for the holidays. Mother brought a lot of goodies from the states like pecans, cheese, Little Debbie cakes, and cookies to make and decorate. I will need to go on a diet before our next trip to Sudan or the plane may not make it off the ground! Mother and Neltia spent a lot of time baking goodies and also making cakes that we delivered to some of the friends and organizations that we have been working with over this past year.  We really appreciate all the help that they have given to us.
 
Although many of you in the states have had colder temperatures and maybe even snow, for us in Uganda we have been HOT HOT HOT!  It is sometimes hard to get into the mood to celebrate when you are hot but with my parents here and having the house decorated with our Christmas decorations it didn’t take long for it to feel like Christmas!  Because it has been warm we have been able to take some time to travel and show my parents some of the sights of Uganda. We visited the source of the Nile in Jinga and spent the night there which was beautiful!  They stood on the equator in and experienced city life here in Kampala and all that comes with it, traffic, traffic, traffic! So it has been a great time with them and we look forward to spending next Christmas with all our family in the States.
 
As we look to this New Year, we are excited to see what God is going to do!  He has blessed us so much over this past year and provided for us so much that we can’t wait to see what this New Year will bring. Continue to pray for Aid Sudan as we continue to work among the southern Sudanese both in the US and in southern Sudan. Thanks to all of you who have supported us in 2008 and we look forward to serving with you in 2009.  Happy New Year! 

This past week I had a great privilege. First of all I got to travel into Sudan with my oldest son Drayton. We had a great time together and it was great for him to see exactly where and what we are doing with Aid Sudan. I believe the highlight for him was to fly the MAF airplane for a little while and seeing the Nile River from the air. He also got to be with me as we met up with and introduced one of our Moses Project missionaries Mike Maker. 

Drayton and I landed in the town of Nimule and were met by Maker and his brother Makal. They took us down the dirt road back to a church where over 150 people were waiting to meet us. These people had been there over two hours waiting for our arrival and they made us feel so welcomed. I was able to greet these folks and also introduce Maker to them and tell them that he is beginning a Bible school there in their town and we invited all the pastors and church leaders to attend for training. After prayers everyone left the church except the pastors and church leaders and then Maker and I were able to share two Bible stories with them and give them a sample of what they would be learning in the school. All the people were so happy to hear the Word of God through stories and they told us how glad they were that we had come to train them and meet with them. 

It was truly a great day!  We were only there for a few hours but God worked in those two hours in amazing ways. We look forward to see what He is going to do in the future through the training Maker is going to do with the people and through the Bible school.  We give God the praise for everything!

On my recent trip into Sudan we had an amazing time! I told the group God always gives us amazing stories to share about His faithfulness and this trip was no different. Since I handle all the logistics most of my stories are from this point of view. First of all we landed in Padak Sudan and needed to be delivered to our compound in the village of Biong which is about 4 miles away. The road was like a river and the water was sometimes waist deep in places. We were all wondering how in the world we would get there with all our luggage but God came through for us as our Sudanese host, Gai Luom, had sent a huge UN truck with four wheel drive to take us to the compound. We were all rejoicing!

But this is not the entire story. On our way out of Biong, this huge truck was not available and we were getting ready to walk the 4 miles through the water but again Gai and God amazed us as he had lined up boats to carry us through the water for the 4 mile trek. It took us about 2 hours to make the journey but we were all humbled by the love shown to us by our Sudanese friends. We spent the week ministering to them through a medical clinic and here they were ministering to us in an even greater way because they carried all our heavy luggage the two miles we had to walk until we got to the boats. Then, they helped push, pull and drive the Sudanese boats to get us to the airstrip in time. They also cared for us as we had to traverse many deep water holes, helping us not fall into the muddy water as we lacked to balance needed to navigate these areas. 

I was moved greatly by the love that our Sudanese friends showed us through their humble service to help their guests get back to their homes. God truly is faithful and I love to watch Him work out things when it seems like there is no way. When the rivers of life look deep and long and we can’t see our way through we just need to turn to our Savior who helps us cross these rivers, even when in our mortal minds it looks impossible. We do love our Awesome God and praise Him for His provisions! 

Have you ever wondered why God works out the plans He does sometimes?  This happened to me on my trip back from the Cush Conference.  As we headed back from Yei, our plane experienced an electrical problem and I flew the plane while the pilot went through the checklist to try and fix the problem.  We headed to Paguna where two of the other MAF planes were there picking up passengers. We landed and tried to fix the situation but we were unable to fix it without more parts. We spent the night there which is in the heart of a game park and God blessed us in being able to see many animals in His creation!

The next day I caught another MAF plane coming through and had to go back up to Arua for a few hours to wait for the plane to take me home. I was so ready to get home but knew that God must have a reason for me going to Arua.  Upon arrival I went to one of the little stores there at the airport and ordered a few samosas and a coke for my lunch. The Ugandan girl who was running the store came where I was sitting and we began to talk. I found out that she had only been saved for about a year and that her husband had been killed this past year.  She was questioning God and why bad things always happen to her, and I assured her that we don’t understand why these things happen but what we do know is that God is always there with us when they do happen!  I was able to encourage her and move her along a little bit in her walk with Jesus Christ.  I was also able to encourage her and give her some insight into her work among the many Muslims in her town. 

It wasn’t long until my plane arrived and it was time for me to go. I told Gladys that I would pray for her and her walk with the Lord. As I boarded the plane I realized that God did have a plan for me going to Arua and if it was just to encourage one of His children then that was reason enough!  Please pray for Gladys and her walk with the Lord.

Things here in Kampala are really gearing up as we get prepped and ready for three teams coming from the US to work in southern Sudan.  We will have one team going to Mvolo installing a Posho Mill, a team going to Biong to do a medical project and a team going to Nasir and doing a teacher training and pastor training. Three planes, lots of shopping, many emails and lots of phone calls have been in the mix to pull this all together! But God is going to work it all out and I don’t have to worry about it, Praise God!

I was also able to visit a good friend of mine named Margaret who was a big help in getting Aid Sudan registered here in Uganda. This visit was very sad because we went to the hospital, which is not like a US hospital, to see her because she has been diagnosed with throat cancer.  She is very weak and can’t eat, so they are feeding her with a feeding tube and they are hoping to start treating her with radiation tomorrow if they get the machine fixed.  So please pray for her!! 

Neltia and I were talking after our visit of how blessed America is that we can get great medical care and we don’t have to worry about the machine breaking or if they are giving us the right drugs.  Margaret who is a Christian has kept her faith in God strong and I just got a text from her telling me about the machine but she added that God is in control and we know that He is in everything and in every part of our lives.  He wants what is best for us even though we may not understand at the time, He has it all mapped out for our lives.  Please continue to pray for us to trust Him in everything, even these three trips, God is the master physician and logistical coordinator!!  Amen!!

This week has been busy catching up with everything I left while I was in Juba.  We also were able to host Jengmer, one of our Moses Project missionaries for one night on his way back to the US!  We had a great time with him hearing about his time in Sudan.
 
God is still teaching me things and one thing is that He will always provide for His children.  On my recent trip to Juba I was able to see this first hand as God met many of the needs in my life.  If you remember from my last blog, it was a miracle that I even arrived at the SIL guesthouse but upon arrival I didn’t find my friend who was supposed to meet me.  I finally got a phone call from him and said it would be late before he arrived.  Well there I was, without transport to go and get something to eat that night and even if I did have transport chances are I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them so what was I going to do? 

I had already decided that I would settle down with a cup of tea and a pack of my Lance crackers for dinner that night when along came one of the SIL team members.  He asked if I had plans for dinner and when I answered no, he invited me to come and eat at his house.  WOW God had done it again!!  He knew that I needed a good hot meal and He worked through His body to provide that for me!!  I thank God for always reminding me that He knows our needs and He will provide for us because we are His children!

This week has been great and challenging.  I praise God that I was able to travel to Juba this week and register us with the Ministry of Religious Affairs!!  This will help us tremendously in our work here in southern Sudan.

I arrived in Juba on Tuesday with all plans to meet up with my Sudanese friend at the airport, but to my dismay he was not there.  All that I had to communicate with was my satellite phone and I couldn’t reach him or the guesthouse where I was to stay. I later found out that the bus he was on had a problem and made him late. So I stayed at the airport for some time but then it began to rain and I decided I needed to go and get a taxi and try and find the guesthouse myself. I negotiated the price with a driver who then instructed another who he “said” he knew where to go but after about an hour of riding around in the rain, stopping at numerous places for him to ask directions, a small accident with another taxi and my finding out that he knew neither where the guesthouse was or English, I decided to go back to the airport. The whole way I was praying to God for him to please help me get to the guesthouse, I didn’t want to spend the night in the taxi. 

As we were reaching the airport I saw a truck coming towards us and I recognized it, it looked like the Mission Aviation Fellowship truck who had met me at their plane upon arrival.  As it got closer I was sure and even saw the sign on the door, I immediately rolled down my window and started waving and yelling and he stopped there in the middle of the road.  I ran over and told him my dilemma and he sent one of his guys with us to find the guesthouse!  I was praising God for his greatness and for answering my prayer!!  God loves us and He will take care of His children!  I praise Him for the way He is continually teaching me to trust Him in everything.

I have been all over the place! Neltia and I have been hosting and working with two great teams from the states. Our first trip went into the Padak area of southern Sudan and the second trip went into Aweil.  You can read more about these trips and see pictures here on our website.  We also had some friends from our home church come and spend some time with us and it was great to be with them and show them some of the sights of Uganda! 

I don’t know if I have written this in a blog yet but we finally got our registration so Aid Sudan is official in Uganda and we now have our work permit! Thanks to all who prayed with us for this - God has answered our prayers! Please pray for us as we now begin working to get registered in Sudan.

This past week has been busy working with immigrations to get the work permit put into my passport. I have also been busy getting things together for a food delivery project that we have slated to do in the Bor area in a few weeks. We have been working with the local church to complete this project - please pray for all the logistics that goes into this and that the people will be blessed not only by the food but also that many will come to know Jesus Christ.

One thing I wanted to share from one of my Sudanese friends here in Uganda who said the reason that southern Sudan respects the church, the missionaries and all Christians so much is because when things were bad and the war was going on it was the church and all the leaders that stood with them.  Everyone else left them.  This reminded me of how Christ is always with us, even when we are down he is always there.  Please God let us be like Christ who is closer than a brother and help us to stand with our Sudanese friends in the good times and bad.

Life in East Africa is challenging sometimes to say the least.  There are many things that you have that should work but don’t and that is frustrating … but that is just part of the life in East Africa. 

This week we have had a big challenge about having water.  The water stopped coming to our house probably about a week ago but we just realized it when our two water tanks finally emptied out.  This was a great challenge for us as we had to spend about a week without water.  This made us appreciate the nationals who have to go and “fetch” water daily and thus was the case with us as I made several trips with our water containers to “fetch” water.  We praise God that Friday the water did return after many calls and a trip to the water company!

We did learn something from this experience and that is just how valuable and precious water really is.  You can live without a lot of things but you just can’t make it without water!  You know our Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the living water and if you drink from Him you will never thirst again!  How awesome is that in knowing that He is the living water, He is all we need in our lives and with Him we will never thirst again!!  Please pray with us as we do water projects for the Sudanese who are in desperate need of water and that they will come to really know the supplier of Living Water - our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ!!

This week God worked out a big detail for the upcoming June mission trip. I had been praying with many others that God would help get paperwork signed and completed to get our medical supplies into Sudan for the upcoming medical project.  It was getting close to my deadline and I kept asking God how were we going to be able to do it and finally I had to give it over to God.  And you know what he did?  He took care of it!!  It was amazing to see Him work all the details out. 

First of all, I needed to get a letter from one of the pastors in the area that we will be working.  Well God planned it out for Agook, one of our missionaries, to be ordained as a pastor his last term in Sudan and so he was able to write this letter for me!!  I then had been told that I would have to go to Juba and get this letter and that it might take one to two months to get it.  But God led me to the southern Sudanese office here in Kampala and within one day I had the letter that I needed!!  It continues to amaze me that we serve an awesome God who is always on time!!  Why do we even fret over the little details when we know that He is in control and if He wants it done, it will happen.  I have just been praising God for His provision and for the Big Heart He has for the southern Sudanese.  He wants them to be there at His throne praising Him when all His followers are called to our Heavenly home!

This week many things are starting to come together for our Uganda office!  I went Monday and ordered our “official” stamp.  In many East African countries any official letter from the government or an organization needs a stamp to make it official.  Well now Aid Sudan’s Uganda office is official!  I also learned that our registration should be completed soon!

At home we finally got another dog for our kids!  They are very happy as you can imagine.  She came to us already named “Grace”.  It was so neat to have McCain our youngest come to me and say that he had sang “Amazing Grace” to her and she went to sleep.  We do thank God for His Amazing Grace that He gave to us by sending His one and only Son that through Him we might be saved!! 

We also thank God for His “official” stamp or seal He puts on us through the Holy Spirit as a guarantee or deposit for us to live with Him eternally one day!! 2 Cor. 1:22.

If you have traveled to third world countries you know that things are a lot different than what we normally see in America.  The same is true for Uganda.  Recently I needed to get a key made for our car that God provided for us!  I had been asking around about where I could possibly get one made.  So as a last resort I went to the dealership.  Expecting that they would charge me a big price for the key they told me that they couldn’t make a copy but knew a guy that could.  They gave me this man’s number and I waited patiently on him at the dealership as he took a “bodaboda” or motorcycle taxi to where I was.  Upon arrival I greeted him and ask where his shop was located.  He tried to explain but asked me where my car was located.  We started walking toward the car and he explained that he would make the key right there at the car.  I was shocked, because all that he had was a small briefcase and I knew he couldn’t put a key making machine in there so I thought to myself; this is going to be interesting.  I sat patiently and watched him as he took my original and a blank key and used a file to skillfully cut out another key.  He would file some and then put the keys together to check where to file next.  He did this over and over again and after about twenty minutes he handed me the key and said “try it”.  I did and it worked perfectly!!  I was very impressed and quickly took down his name and number in case I might need another key.  It is amazing what these folks here can do and with the most primitive, or so we would say, tools!

I was thinking aren’t we like a blank key in the hands of the Master Locksmith.  He has a lock or place for us that He wants to use us in and skillfully and carefully He files us down and gets us in the right shape to do what He wants for us to do!  We do have to be still and allow Him to work on us, without moving.  Praise God for His gentle, skillful hands and for making us into what He wants us to be for Him!

We have finished up all the paperwork for our car and so now it is officially ours!  This was a long process but now it is all done.  I was also able to go and get insurance on it which is called third party or what we would call liability.  It took
many trips into town to get the right paperwork for this to take place but thank the Lord it is done, at least for a year anyway.

I have been busy this week getting ready for the two groups coming over in June and July.  We are very close to having everything ready for them to come and stay with us at our home on their way in and out of Sudan.  We will have a great time together being able to fellowship with one another!!  I have also been busy working on different projects getting estimates and information so that we can continue to help better the lives of southern Sudanese and most of all get the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them!

This weekend we had a great surprise by being able to host one of our southern Sudanese from Knoxville Tenn.  His name is John Malek.  He is from Nasir and is returning after 20 years to visit with his friends and family there.  Needless to say he is very excited to be back.  We were able to spend some time together in our home and office along with two of his friends, Michael and Nir who live here in Kampala.  They are officially the first Sudanese to visit our Kampala office and we were thrilled to have them!!  We look forward to the time when we have Sudanese in our home and office on a regular basis.  We love them all and are glad that God has provided this opportunity for us to serve among them!

Thanks!

Kerry

We purchased a car last week so we have really enjoyed having it and being able to get out by ourselves and see the beautiful countryside of Kampala.  Monday was a holiday so we spent it relaxing and visiting with some wonderful friends we have made here.  They have their own Christian NGO and he trains pastors in theology.  They have two girls and one son and so they want to get together a lot so that their son will have our three boys to play with!

The rest of the week has been peaceful except for the almost three days we have been without power.  But this is natural here in East Africa!  Our main concern was for our groceries in the fridge, that they would not be spoiled.  But we can praise God today that the power is back up and running….for now.

We did lose our two cats this week.  They ran away and so McCain and Drayton have been sad this week, but they are pushing for another dog!  We’ll see!

I was able to meet with a Ugandan eye doctor who does ministry in Uganda and Sudan and he and I were talking about a possible project together. What was really great is that he is very interested in learning Chronological Bible storying!  This will really help him in his ministry, just pray that we can begin training together soon!!

Please continue to pray for our registration with Uganda and Sudan.  I hope to be traveling to Sudan next month to begin registration there.  Pray also for paperwork for medical supplies we will need for our June trip and also for a good transporter to take them into Sudan as well!

This week has been a great week!  God has brought many things together and we are grateful.  The paperwork for Aid Sudan's NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) registration got completed on Wednesday!!  We were able to get the final recommendation, after waiting a week, and then we were able to submit.  Wednesday was a stressful day!   I left home at nine in the morning and didn’t get home till around 5pm.  I first had to go by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and pick up the final recommendation and then by the office of the consultants who are helping us with our registration.  I had to wait there because they needed to register our name again with the government so that took some time and then we were off to the NGO board to submit ... or so I thought. 

When we arrived there the people that I needed to see were in a meeting and so we were told to come back at around 2:30. When I arrived back there I was able to talk with the Secretary of the NGO board who questioned me about our name but I assured her that we were going to work in Uganda and train missionaries here while also working in Sudan.  She then sent me back to the other office where I met with one of the officers.  She looked at my file and told me to take it to the cashier to get a bill, but she said you can’t pay at the cashier you have to go to one of the banks downtown and pay there.  Well by this time the afternoon was moving along and I was beginning to wonder if we would make it back.

So here we go to the bank.  I also had my son McCain with me this time and I knew that he was getting tired.  We arrived at the bank, hustled inside, found the place to pay and paid the money to submit our file.  Done!! Great we can go and turn it in!  No, you first have to get an official receipt from counter one.  I turned and looked at counter one and it was full of people all huddled around the window trying to force their paperwork through the tiny hole.  So I jumped in with them.  The lady finally took my paperwork and said that I would have to wait for an hour and come back.  So McCain and I sat down and began to wait.  After many attempts to explain to McCain (who is six) how long an hour is we were back in line and this time it was success!!!  We hustled out the door and back down the road to the NGO office hoping they hadn’t closed.  But God was gracious and we arrived in time to turn the paper work in and so now we just wait for it to be approved!! 

Thursday was a similar day of going from office to office because God provided the money for our car and we now have some wheels!!!!   We thank God because He provided all the money that we needed for this car and He showed us again that He is faithful and will provide!!!

This week has been a somewhat peaceful week.  I have almost received all the paperwork that I need to get us registered with the Ugandan government so I didn’t have many places to go this week.  It allowed me to have some much needed time alone with God and His word.  He has really been speaking to me this week that He is in control, not me and that I need to let Him use this very ordinary person to do His work and for Him to get all the glory!!  He also has been teaching me to trust in Him and not to put my trust in other things like people or money.  He knows what we need and He will supply it at just the right time, we just need to trust Him!!  It has been a great week!!

Speaking of trust, we had to trust Him this week when our internet was not working for 4 days and I was awaiting an important paper for our registration.  But it did get fixed and is working now!  I have to trust Him when I ride in the taxi with my friend as he learns to drive with me in the car with him.  Also as he gets very close to people walking on the side of the road and pulls out in front of other vehicles I have to put my trust in God that He will watch over me and protect me.  And you know what?  He has, praise God!! 

So basically this week God showed me that I need to trust Him and not rely on myself or others to meet the needs that I have and to also be still and let Him mold me and shape me into what He has for my life and for this day, we do serve an Awesome God!!

Well this week has been a whirlwind!  Many things have come together and some are still not yet together but Praise God He is in control of all of it and not me!!!

The week started off by spending a great deal of time in town trying to get Aid Sudan registered with the government, getting information on a radio project and looking for a car.  I knew the week was going to be interesting when my taxi driver showed up late in a manual transmission car.  I quickly found out that he doesn’t have a clue how to drive it and how he made it to pick me up I don’t have a clue!  So from that point forward I spend the rest of the beginning of the week training him how to drive a stick.  Thank God that he allowed me to learn this early in life and gave me lots of practice driving an 18 wheeler!!  Well for those of you who don’t know how taxis work here let me give you some instruction.  First of all no matter where you’re going, or how tight your schedule might be, you must stop by the petrol station and put some fuel in the car.  This is usually not negotiated in the price so you have to plan for it.  Well this day started in the same manner but we got about a kilometer from the petrol station and we ran out of gas, and my poor taxi driver who was struggling already with the manual transmission drained the battery trying to restart the car while we coasted down the hill to the petrol station.  I told him that we could praise God that we have a manual transmission today because we could roll it off and started it after we got fuel.  So I began explaining how to push the clutch in and put it into second gear and when we had some good speed to pop the clutch and start it.  He looked at me confused and jumped out of the car and said “you do it”.  So here I went and it fired right up.  The day continued to be interesting as I coached him along in learning to drive a stick.  So when you come to see me be prepared for anything and you will be amazed at how God will use the training you have had from the past to help you here!!

The other adventure we had this week was to attend a yard sale that some of the Baptist missionaries were having.  I always like to go to these things but I am a little tight with my money and my wife really has to encourage me to spend a little and buy a few things.  Well she had a great time rummaging through all the items and was able to find some great stuff that we really needed.  I on the other hand went and perused around the compound coming to a stop and resting against one of the mission cars.  One of the workers there came and asked me if I would like to buy that vehicle, I thought he was kidding because I had already talked with his boss who had told me that they didn’t have any more cars for sale.  So I jokingly said Yes!  He told me that his boss was going to sell some more and if I wanted one that he was sure that I could buy one.  He said for me to wait and he would go and talk with his boss.  Well I eagerly awaited his return and when he came back he told me that it was mine if I wanted to buy it!!  I was shocked and happy!!  I proceeded to go and talk with his boss and sure enough he wanted to sell some more vehicles.  I looked at the one I wanted and was able to take it on a test drive and then we talked about the price.  God was really working because the price was right in line, actually lower than my budget!!  I told him I would take it as soon as I could get the money wired!  So what I learned from this is that God is always in control and even though we may not know when and how He is going to work things out He always does it and right on time!  So at this yard sale I spent a lot more than I was bargaining too but I am glad that God gave my wife this idea to go to this yard sale!

Look out for next week!