"He is the LORD!" - A month of prayer and fasting

January was unique this year. Not only were the university students at home for the holidays, but national elections took place, so everywhere was quiet and the students were delayed to return. Internet was out for almost a week and for a few days around elections, shops and banks were closed. Places felt like ghost towns as people voted for their national leaders.

Every January, at church, we have a month of prayer and fasting. From 6am until 6pm, most of the adults in church fast and then at 5pm we would meet at church for communal prayers and then break the fast together with tea and an escort.

For me, the Book of Leviticus is coming to life. Have you ever studied it? I've "read" it a number of times and always considered it kind of boring. Full of laws and instructions. But this time it is fresh and exciting for me!! There are a number of things that keep standing out for me.

1. He is the Lord! Over and over God states that we should fear HIM because He is the LORD.

2. The number 7 flows through the book, reminding us that we need to rest. God's Sabbath plan for us is not a good suggestion, but a necessity.

3. Holy, Holy, Holy! God is Holy and he desires for us to also be holy and set apart for him. We can not do this on our own though, our earthly sacrifices will never be enough, so I thank God for His gift of Jesus Christ, the ultimate and final sacrifice.

It is such a blessing to belong to a household of faith.

One new idea that stood out to me from Leviticus was how much the Holy Tabernacle represents the original Garden of Eden and how God desires for us to be dwelling in His presence. The cherubim that guard Eden are sewn into the curtain of the temple. The golden lampstand has branches on it that represent life. And all the rules about uncleanness come because the Lord detests brokenness and death. He is a God of light and LIFE.

One difficult thing to watch this month is how our current landlord at church is changing things around and we feel like he is squeezing us out. He cut down the tree right outside the front door of the church - where we often fellowship and take tea together. He put up a pit latrine, a car washing bay and more.

Our Sunday school children are reaching 50 in number and no longer fit in the church offices, so we had been meeting outside under the tree, especially since it's dry season and it's cooler outside than cramped in a classroom. And the ground is dry for mats to be put down for the kids to sit on every Sunday. But now even our meeting space is over taken and the parking lot is got.

Our lovely little church is the bamboo building on the right. It doesn't feel inviting or seen anymore.

Thankfully, we still gather for prayer, fellowship, and praise, whether at church or in our homes. During the fasting season, we would gather at church Monday through Friday, then on Saturday night we would gather in someone's home. We were blessed to have 18 adults and 4 children gather for prayer.

Even the little children are welcome to make noise as we enter the Throne Room.

Moses often led the singing before prayers.

Our friends crowned the month by hosting 28 of us. God is good. Although, it's not about the numbers. It's about gathering together to pray for a number of things. This month we focused on: 1 - A university campus around Uganda. 2 - Our church - University Community Church. 3 - An unreached people group in our corner of the world. And 4 - Our nation.

Even while in Soroti, for voting, we went to a dear friends house to help lead and participate in a family altar. Being a household that comes before the Lord together. The theme was repentance and having our hearts right before the Lord.

I am often grateful for my past and Christian upbringing, but I love how Ugandans cherish being in prayer, song, and fellowship together. God is on their lips for hours on end.

"Come, let us worship and bow down!"

"From the lips of children and infants, You have ordained praise."

We thank the Lord that UCC has its own piece of land though. One Sunday after church, many of us walked one kilometer, to the other side of campus, to see the land and begin the ground breaking. We want to shift this year - either to another temporary structure, or our own permanent church building. God is doing a new thing!

Ferries, Friends, and Fun

In October, my dear friend Barbara and I checked out our calendars and planned to train together in Moyo district. Well, we sleep in Moyo town, but then every morning and evening for the week, we drive one hour to a refugee settlement camp in Abongi district. There we train teachers in Educational Care. I play the role of Barbara's driver and we have a blast crossing the Nile River on a ferry.

We line up on the south side and I have to go and register the car and all the passengers for the free ferry crossing. The boat crosses once per hour. Maybe 6 buses fit on the boat. It's a fun 20 minute crossing.

Stuck in the car during the crossing. :)

Barbara was happily greeting all the students as they made there way back to class.

This current module was on preventive and corrective discipline.

Break time - tea and boiled cassava

Ice-breakers crack me up. We sing the songs of nursery school kids.

Lunch - fish, cornmeal, and greens

Barbara is helping the teachers to process new disciple methods, desiring for change and a big attitude shift. 

Another lunch was beans, cabbage, and posho (cornmeal).

I was busy collecting everyone's reports at the end of the week.

I bought a big duck to take home for Christmas Eve!

Please pray for these teachers; that they will implement all that they have learned during our week together. I was grateful for one teacher who was extremely vulnerable. She described that she is short-tempered and can even let her anger build up to the point of boxing someone. She asked me if there was any way to work through her anger issues. So, on the last morning of the training, I worked through some anger management ideas with her and she implemented them into her action plan. God, please make her quick to listen, slow to speak, and may she act in love.

Closing the week in prayer...

We rejoice for all we have learned. God helping us.

Barbara and I drove from the camp, straight to the ferry. The ferry was just loading it's last vehicle when we pulled up. There was space on the tailgate of the boat. I asked the boatman to hold the boat. I ran to register the car with the police, 200 metres behind, then I registered my passenger at another stall beside the ferry, and the boatman was impressed that I was running, so he held the boat!! We crossed immediately and it made for a much shorter trip home. Thank you, Jesus!!

While I was in Moyo, Moses and Sarah were in Palisa, helping out with a medical crusade.

13 doctors, 27 nurses, 35 volunteers, 3 mobile labs, a school building, a crusade stage, and a mango tree hosted the huge outreach program.

People came from far and wide for free medical care.

The team worked effortlessly to serve as many as possible.

Over 2200 people were seen in the village.

We thank God for Patrick and his love for the people in his village.

I was able to get the Christmas tree set up while I waited for Moses to return from Teso land.

Sadly, the guy slashing the lawn broke the front window.

Glass went all the way to the couch, just inches away from where I was sitting inside the house. One of my greatest fears is hearing that glass break. I broke a window cutting grass as a kid and that ting ting sound has freaked me out ever since.

Rachel and Eddie Andersen came over from Kenya to spend some quality Christmas time with us. Rachel is one of my bestie college roomies. We had such a good week of accountability, stories, laughter, cooking, ministry, and more.

Eddie and Silas also helped to hook us up to solar power. They definitely know there way around a solar system and I rejoiced. After 5 months of living in the dark, it was fantastic to run the fridge, have lights, charge phones, and even run the washing machine! Thank you, Lord!! 

Moses tried to give Eddie a chicken to take back to Kenya, but he didn't seem too excited.

I was happy though. The neighbours had gifted this big rooster to me when I went to visit them.

Sharing a leftover goat leg with Val and Joy. :) 

Rachel and Eddie, Ezra and Silas - a wonderful family to host.

But don't worry, we would love to host you too! Karibu!

Pastor Mo and Pastor Jimmy were happy to share the pulpit with Eddie and I was able to teach Sunday school in a much better time frame. Merry Christmas!

Running wires.

Loving life.

Mmmmm. Goat meat!

Prepping the pork for roasting.

Moses' Christmas consists of the Big Eat. Meaning, he wants us to eat a lot of meat. He woke up early to slaughter a goat with our awesome friends Emma and James. It would be roasted throughout the day. Typically our Christmas would start with delicious liver cooked in a tomato sauce, but this year, he didn't get to the butcher in time. They were all sold out. We all had a sad moment of loss. So while a few of us ate crepes, he started making offals instead. Many enjoyed his breakfast of choice, I decided to wait for later edibles. Then it was roasted pork and goat stew, along with roasted goat to finish the day. Red cabbage and yummy garlic potatoes completed the main meals. Rachel made Nanaimo Bars. Delish! And I whipped up a quick birthday cake for James as well. We finished Christmas in a food coma, and my dear hubby was happy.

Christmas Eve we had duck a l'orange as well. Now we are eating black beans. :)

Two days before Christmas, we snuck off to Aruu Falls to spend the afternoon swimming and playing in the waters there. The fish were super crazy that day. For two hours they nibbled on all of us. I almost thought there were leeches in the water. I often thought about those Japanese spas that have fish nibble off dead skin. I'm not sure I would sign up for that treatment program.

Fun in the sun, with a picnic lunch on shore.

I sure did miss Christmas with this family though. For 9 years I shared a meal with the Engulus and this year we were separated by 4 hours of road. I can't believe how big my boys are here.

On the boat with Barbara

Making sure Okello gets wet for his birthday!

A Christmas baby.