Riding in God's Palm: Attack of the Voice

Sadly, it's been over a year since I last wrote a post. And I blame my physical voice for that. Over the last four years my speaking voice has become weaker. But it's also moody. If I am just chatting with Moses, or friends, it seems to hold up, but if I am to read anything aloud, or pray, or lead a group, the voice gives way to choking. A muscle tightens and doesn't release. Singing is something I haven't done in 4 years. It makes my spirit cry. And because my physical voice is struggling, I feel like my virtual voice is losing it's creativity. I want to write a book, or dramatic monologues, but have no idea where to begin. But today, I woke up thinking I should at least do something!! So, just for warm-ups. I am attaching a few photos per month of the past year of our lives and sharing a little of what's been going on in our lives.

August 2023

Sunday school teachers love it when the costume bag comes out during a training.

Another group of teachers is equipped with OneHope's "17 Stories" curriculum.

Babysitting children at home, we create a little car village that lasted the whole day!

Over the past year, we have been teaching the Gospel Project in Sunday school.

Tuesdays is men's fellowship in our home. (Monday evenings is women's fellowship, also in our home.)

In the middle of August, 2023, Moses and I flew to the US for missions training and a MissionGO conference. We had a few weeks around those two events, so we caught up with as many friends, family members, and supporters as we could along the way. We are so grateful that the Lord opened the door for us to go the United States, and we believe that it was the key that helped Moses finally be able to get a visitor visa to Canada as well.

First stop, since we landed in Buffalo, was to catch up with family and see Niagara Falls.

Hanging out with Mom and Dad is always a blast. And I'm glad I was around to celebrate his 70 years of life!!

Mom and I went to a sunflower farm while Dad and Moses went to a car show.

Everything is bigger in the US. Funny little story here. While we went to Baker Book House, a large Christian bookstore, Moses got emotional and started weeping because he desired to have these kinds of resources in his own country. The next day we went to the supermarket, and as I was strolling through the meats and cheese section, I started crying. Moses had to hug me while I wished that we had access to these resources in Uganda. Oh, I'm a terrible person!

Moses could see Canada, but didn't know if he would ever be able to reach there. Only the Lord knew that a few months later, the gates would open!!

We finally made it to the head office of MissionGO!

We attended a week long orientation with MissionGO.

Other missionaries joined from around the globe.

A great week of learning and comradery.

A stop in Pittsburgh to visit a group of people who walk alongside of UCC, University Community Church, in Gulu. Every fall, a contingent comes from PA to lead a Shepherd the Flock Conference.

September 2023

Throughout the journey we were also able to spend time with former colleagues. Steve and Tanya used to live in Soroti. We also met up with missionaries I used to serve with in the Philippines.

This will be our last visit to the Resonate Office in the CRC mecca. They are moving the office, but we were so glad to fellowship and share stories and pray with the staff we found in the office.

Our partner mission agency.

A beloved denomination.

I had the joy of showing Moses where I went for college!

Decorating the wall in a main atrium is a piece of artwork put together by Tim Sliedrecht. These hands and feet were of former LRA child soldiers. I remember being in the village, maybe 10 years ago, meeting up with these Lord's Resistance Army youth, painting their feet and then washing their feet with turpentine. Their stories broke my heart, but God has healed so many of them from their traumatic journey of war.

I was invited to speak at a Kuyper College podcast chapel.

Who can resist a ride with Papa Bill, who I met in my high school days.

Along the way of visiting people, we did a few tourist attractions.... because it's necessary!

My Texan Hubby!

At the MissionGO conference.

Sharing dinner with colleagues from around the world!

We even made it to Washington D.C. This is where we received an email that Moses had received a visa to Canada and he was supposed to bring his passport in to the embassy. The only problem is, the embassy he had to bring it to was Kampala. We made it back with one day to spare. God is good!

One of my favourite activities of all time!

Catching up with family! My cousin Judy.

Leading worship.

We spent 7 weeks in the US.

One of those weeks was in Buffalo for MissionGO training.

And one week was in the Ft. Lauderdale area.

The rest was 5 weeks of travelling, seeing many people and driving through 20 states. We were beyond blessed to accomplish all that we did on that amazing trip. I was able to share so many firsts with Moses! We praise God for the open door.

October 2023

When we arrived back in Uganda, our vehicle had to go to the garage for a few days, so here is Moses, patiently waiting for the car, so we can travel home from Kampala to Gulu.

We made it home in time to be a part of the Shepherd the Flock Conference. Over 70 pastors gather for 2 days of learning, worship, discussion and prayer. And each pastor when home with 10 books to add to their libraries.

We are the serving crew for the conference, making sure the pastors have water, lunch, and name tags at registration.

This group blesses my heart - all from UCC - and they call me Mommy K.

Then it was off to Kitgum for 3 days to run another module of TLT (Timothy Leadership Training).

These church leaders are hoping to do all 6 modules.

Praying over the action plans which each participant has 3 months to implement.

November 2023

Question Night at church.

Teaching Sunday school under the hot sun. Thankfully, just a few weeks later, we were able to begin renting the house next door to the church, so now Sunday school has an indoor classroom!