striving to see beauty

I wish I could capture the smell of the rain as it hits this dry, red earth.

I wish I could take a picture of the way it feels when the cool wind blows against my skin.

I wish you could hear the songs of the birds in the towering trees and the lone rooster crowing in the distance as the thunder rolls across the skies.

The rains bring life here. Those who complain about the hot season here, often complain about the "cold", rainy season. But me? I absolutely love the rainy season.
In this place we've chosen to live that is so different from the culture and climate from which we've grown up in, it's so important for us to strive to see the beauty in the every day. To look for the things that are delightful; the things that I never want to forget and will one day miss about living in Kampala.

Philippians 4:4, 11b

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice!

...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

Lenten resources

For most of my life I didn't know what Lent was or what it meant for me, a Christian. 
It's only been a few years ago now that I've acknowledged it and most times participated in it and so to start off the first day of Lent, I thought this prayer by Thomas Merton would be appropriate to meditate on:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always,
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

 Some other Lent resources and ideas for you and your family: 

Ann Voskamp's Easter Tree

A meditation from Ann Voskamp on forgiveness.

Fast from all other drinks except for water and donate the money you saved to 40 Days of Water.

Some creative Lent activities for kids.

A Bible study for teens on Lent.

and here are 40 more ideas for Lent.

new look!

We have a new look!
In an attempt to streamline our look and as well as engage you, our supporters, we've revamped our blog, created a Facebook Group (you should join it!) and we'll be posting more updates, pictures and videos.
Please take a minute to either become a "Follower" of this blog (located a bit further down the sidebar) or subscribe to this blog by email or via the RSS feed (located on the sidebar) as this is where the main bulk of our updates will be located.
We're looking forward to letting you into our lives on a whole new level!

Christmas in Pictures

Merry Christmas!

A very merry Christmas to all of you! We are so thankful for you and wish you love, peace and joy this Christmas and in this year to come. 

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. Isaiah 9:2

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

wandegeya

wandegeya.
an area we often drive through here and joke about as a team that this is where the guys do their drive-thru shopping. many vendors will come up to the windows and try and sell you their wares. we've bought locks for our gates there, sunglasses, fresh produce, kids' toys as well as getting more airtime cards for our phones.
but there are also other people coming up to our window at wandegeya.
people in wheelchairs, homeless people and children.
begging for money.

Truly he taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.

today we were stopped at the main intersection in wandegeya when 3 little children ran up to our car.
my heart broke.
i asked one little boy what his name was.
araba, he said.
one of the little girls looked to be only just older than noah.
they spotted our water bottle and started miming the drinking motion.
i handed it over, grateful to be able to give something tangible but wishing i had three of them.
the light turned green and we started to move.

Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother,
and in His name all oppression shall cease.

noah says, i hope there's a restaurant at the store where we're going because i'm starving.

how do i reconcile the huge gap between my lifestyle and those begging, starving, thirsty children?

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

i can't give to everyone and my giving isn't necessarily going to be the best way to help in some cases.
but what i do have, i'll give. and where i can, i'll proclaim the power and glory of Christ.

come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Visa's in Jinja

As a last ditch effort to save time and money, we drove the 80km (about 2 hours of driving on African roads) to a town called Jinja, located at the source of the Nile River.
We had heard that the immigration office was considerably smaller, less busy and much more likely to grant a visa extension with less hassle.
When we arrived we found out that we needed photocopies of our passports and current visa's. So Jamie went to get photocopies while I stayed with the boys. He then returned to find out that he needed $50 USD per visa (note, this was not a bribe, but the fee that we'd have had to have paid at the border and what we paid originally at the airport.) and so he left again to get the money. I don't think either of us were too bothered as it seemed extremely likely that we'd be leaving the immigration office with new visa's in our passports.
When Jamie returned with the money, our passports were all issued new 90 day visa's!
Thank you so much for praying!
We continue to be blessed and amazed at all the feedback we have received from you and the obvious results of your prayers.
We praise God for you and for our new visa's.

October Prayer Letter

October Video Prayer Update

Bruno

2 months!

yesterday was our two-monthiversary of living here in kampala!

to commemorate, we took a team picture outside our house:

trevor, nick, jamie holding jude and noah in front of me {why yes our kids were totally not co-operating for the picture, how did you know?}.

we are indeed loving life here, settling into ministry, making new friends and learning to drive in this crazy city {we got a car, by the way!}. 

we are so thankful for your thoughts, emails and prayers so keep them coming and stay tuned for our next email update!

thanksgiving

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving here. 

We even had turkey and pumpkin pie!
There is much to be thankful for here and it was great to go around the table and talk about some of the blessings in our lives we are thankful for.

Often there are things in our lives that don't appear to be "blessings" but God calls us to "rejoice" and "give thanks" over and over in His Word and so, we practice the art of giving thanks. In all our circumstances.

Sometimes, though, the overt blessings like pumpkin pie make us want to click our heels in joy!

 

So thankful for a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner here in Uganda!

Jude scarfs down a piece of pumpkin pie.

He is here.

Here's a taste of our worship service here in Kampala at Kampala Baptist Church.
The worship leader on this particular Sunday was really giving his all.



While I (Vanessa) am not always able to be in the entire service (due to lack of childcare or needing to be in childcare with the boys) God is so gracious and always speaks to me either through worship or a passage read. He is the same God that we worship in Canada and He is here, moving in Uganda.

Great start to our work on campus!

Today was my first day on campus to do front line ministry. As you are aware, Makerere University, the campus we came to Uganda to work on, is on strike. So for this week we are taking part in a "Mission Week" at Makerere University Business School (MUBS).

We got on campus at around 9am, and there were about 6 Christian students that came out to join us to share the gospel on campus. In Uganda, it is okay to go door-to-door in residence halls to talk to students about God. I was partnered with a male first year Christian student named Blessed. After sharing the gospel in two rooms, we knocked on another door and were invited in by a student named Shem. After entering, we saw that Shem's roommate was also home, as he just came out of the bathroom to see myself and Blessed sitting in his room. We introduced ourselves, and Blessed started to engage in conversation with them. Blessed began to share the gospel, and then he gave me a look that told me, "Hey, can you take it from here?". So I took over the conversation, and finished sharing the gospel. Shem told me that he thought it was a good idea, but that he could not commit right now. Mike, on the other hand, was really thinking about what we had shared. He was staring at the booklet of the "Four Spiritual Laws", and really thinking about what this would mean. I could tell he really wanted to invite Christ in his life, but he was also seemingly counting the cost inside of his head. He did not start to cry, but his eyes were looking as if he was tearing up. At that point, Blessed jumped back in the conversation and invited him to read through a suggested prayer, to see if it expressed the desire of his heart. After reading through the prayer, Mike said that he wanted to give his life to Christ! Following this we took his contact info, and provided him with a few suggestions about how to begin his new life in Christ!

What an exciting way to begin ministry here in Uganda! Please pray for Mike, that the seed that has been planted would be in good soil, and that he would grow into a strong disciple of Christ.
Please also pray for the rest of our week, as we bring the gospel to more students at MUBS.

2 weeks in...

We've been in Uganda for 2 weeks (and a day) and life is speeding by!
Our house is beginning to feel like a home and we are slowly settling in.
Our two teammates (Nick & Trevor) are still living with us in the spare room as the tenants in the "little house" have not yet moved out. We're thinking that will happen sometime this week.
Makerere University professors are on strike so Jamie, Nick & Trevor have not yet begun any ministry on campus.
We all attended last week's prayer meeting at the Life Ministry (that is what Campus for Christ is called here in Uganda and in much of South East Africa) although I was kept busy with the boys instead of praying. 'Tis life as a Mom to two young boys.
Jamie, Nick & Trevor are all currently at the prayer meeting this morning and I am home with the boys, working on crafts, playing, doing a bit of baking and tidying up (so we keep the ants at bay!).
We are thankful for hot showers (currently just the spare room bathroom has a hot water heater) and power (at this point our power goes off every other night) and a gas stove that works whether we have power or not.
We have found a church we really like and plan on attending there regularly.
We are still getting the hang of things here but appreciate your prayers and emails as they are no doubt, the reason we are making our way through this transition.

Please pray for the strike at Makerere to end soon so the guys can get on campus soon.
Please pray for a trustworthy and reliable house girl to help around the house here. We have not found one yet although are considering one girl and have another option if necessary.
Please pray for us as we continue to transition. We are settling in and finding joy in the every day but of course we miss the familiarity of life in Canada.