At the Well Ministries - A Dream for Moses

 

The Lord is stirring in Moses' heart and he often has this picture of a radio van, touring to different locations around Uganda, sharing the Word of God. He's already had a logo created. :) Moses would love to spend a few days in a community to preach, lead worship, and then run a radio program while on location.  The two hour live broadcast would not only share the Word and music, but also talk through community issues in a Biblical way.  There are many topics to be discussed - like farming methods, education, family violence, the role of men or women, youth with a purpose, alcoholism, bondage, and more. He also wants to talk about how the church can assist with these issues.

This is a dream, but it gets Moses excited.  He envisions a van driving around, that has speakers on it, so he can both record and broadcast live at the same time. We found these images online, that make us smile...

Team and Family Moments

In September, one of Moses four sisters had her traditional marriage in the village and we were happy to celebrate with her on this fine day.

Here I am with my mother-in-law, Toto (Mom) Oliver. This woman never ceases to pray for us as a family and we are all grateful.

Here is Toto with Sarah and Becky. 

And here are two of my adorable nieces.

Moses loves sharing stories with Pastor Robert.

And since Moses is the leader of his family, he shared blessings over the newly married couple.

Becky and Sarah are enjoying God's creation.

And in September we gladly celebrated Becky's 13th birthday!!

I am happy to be back in the Sunday school class.  Covid has been difficult on the children of Uganda, and at the moment schools have yet to be opened since lockdown began in early 2020. Thankfully, we can find some space under a tree to share the Word of God.

Meet David putting on King Saul's armor :)

The kids are taking time to draw the story.

Thankfully I have a few books to teach with, but I'm often reminded how much we take our western materials and full Sunday school cupboards for granted.

We are brave because God is fighting for us!

Nang-nang - dried salted fish - a great snack

Recently we had a team building day at the Recreation Project

Get to Know You games

Photo Posing

Walking in the Woods

Loads of Laughter

Great team moments for sure!

This was the first time I ever accomplished a zipline.

Climbing the tree was the hardest part for me, I think... my arms were super shaky.

Getting prepped

All of us had to cross through the Spider's Web.

It was an encouraging day, to share with all those who volunteer with or work for Our Call Mission / Roots to Fruits - trainers, educators, missionaries, guards.

On October 16th Moses and I had a one night of fun getaway in Kampala.  We stayed in a nice hotel, to celebrate 2 years of marriage.  (On October 16, 2019, we had our legal marriage in the courts... so we like celebrating twice.  November 16 is still coming up).

Happy Anniversary, Part 1

We walked across the street, to a restaurant called The Lawns, for a delicious dinner!!

The Lawns special drink was strawberry, Tabasco sauce, lemonade with soda water... I had to get it because I had never had that combo before.  I always love trying new things!!

Moses ordered a plate with many game meats, and I had a garlic crocodile steak.

And it was Moses who chose dessert! Yummy.

We laughed at this sign scrolling through the announcements at the hotel.

We topped the anniversary off with breakfast at Holy Crepe.  

 

A Dangerous Anointing

Moses went to meet this wonderful family of strangers and pick up the donated motorcycle. When he arrived, he found that the transfer of ownership had already happened.  This couple felt God was telling them to give it ALL.  Not only did Moses receive a motorcycle, and have the ownership papers, but they also blessed him with a gorgeous Australian leather jacket and a heavy-duty helmet.

Moses asked if he could pray over the family, and it ended up being a very emotional time of prophecy and chain breaking.  The Lord has been moving in a powerful way through this bike already!

We have a friend in Gulu who said to Moses: "You have a dangerous anointing on your life!"

A Moment of Madness

 Moses has recently been asking the Lord to reveal himself more.  Covid19 has left us drier than usual and ministry is especially quiet.  Moses misses being a part of church services - preaching, teaching, leading worship.  When the district borders were closed he couldn't travel to Kitgum to preach on the air (radio) any more either.  He started wondering if he even did the right thing in moving his family to Gulu.  

Since churches and schools are not open (and haven't been for most of this pandemic), we have had to be creative in outreach and Moses has been praying about a motorcycle to get him to more remote places.  Our Subaru Forester just doesn't do as well on these rough Acholi roads.

Last week Moses saw a motorcycle posted for sale on a Kampala FB page, and tried reaching out to the owners but it was out of our price range really. So, he let it rest.

Yesterday afternoon, I called Moses to see when he was coming home for lunch.  When he told me he was on his way, I could hear tears in his voice.  "Honey, are you ok?"

"Ye-ess, I'm ha-aa-pppy!" He quietly said, while crying.

I hung up and pondered what was going on, while stirring the lunch pot.

A few minutes later, I hear him pull up in the car.  As the front door opened, I thought he would make it into the kitchen, but seconds later the girls came into the kitchen to tell me that Daddy was lying prostrate on the sitting room floor, weeping and praying.  I could hear the prayers from the kitchen and so we waited. 

After a short while he came into the kitchen to tell us his story.  

He had been standing on the Main street of Gulu when he received a phone call from perfect strangers. The call had him rejoicing and screaming in the streets.  His knees buckled.  Local shop keepers pulled him into a store to have him sit on a stool and sip water.  They had no idea that the Lord has spoken to Moses.

"Hello Moses! The Lord has been impressing it upon me to give you the motorcycle to use for ministry purposes.  When I talked to my husband this morning, he said that the Lord was also telling him to give it to Moses to do ministry in Gulu and Kitgum. So we want to offer this gift to you.  All you have to do is come and pick it up and bring enough money for the transfer of ownership ($30)."

Wow! He's a miracle working God!

Back in Time

 

Missionary life is always full of changes.  Some of it is seeing youth being discipled enough to start discipleship groups of their own.  Or it is shifting houses. Seeing some ministry doors open and others close - especially during Covid season.  But sometimes the hardest change is seeing other harvesters leave the field.

Recently, in Soroti, a group of us gathered together to say goodbye to Rachel and Daniel Graham.

They finished well.

Together we prayed that God would use them in mighty ways as they resettle back in the US.

Now, I don't know how I uploaded these, but they are from the most recent to further back in time.

These mushrooms are growing outside our front door.

Over the past year, I have been attending women's Bible Study at World Embrace - a project started by Reynold and Kathy Mainse.  They are now busy building up Gulu City Park. We are praying about how to partnership together - especially in regards to sports discipleship and leadership building. We look forward to seeing how God is going to develop this encouraging relationship.

Once a month, my neighbour Therese leads a Bible study in our compound. We are grateful for a large outdoor space to spread out and share God's Word together. 

Last month we travelled to Soroti for a burial. I'm always amazed at my giving husband.  Tears were in my eyes as he literally gave the shirt off his back to this old mzee who was wearing tattered clothes. 

Moses lost his Auntie Lucy, his Dad's only sister. I was amazed at how big the funeral crowd was, even though there were Covid restrictions.  People turned up in large numbers to show respect. 

I am continuing to work my way through editing P1 (Grade One) curriculum, working with the Roots to Fruits materials.  Roots to Fruits is a newly developed material, combining the American Bob Jones curriculum and the Ugandan school board requirements.  P4, Fourth grade, is currently being written, and as each level increases a year, we hope to have another year printed.  We are truly praying for transformation within the Ugandan school system.  And please pray for the children of Uganda.  Most of them have not been in school at all since March of 2020.  The Covid-19 pandemic has set back our kids by two years.  And sadly, HIV and teenage pregnancy are on the rise.  And we don't see any signs of schools reopening soon.  

This was the former Kragt house... And we shifted here around a month ago.  It now has a new coat of paint and a newly built kitchen, which I hope to show you soon in another post.

Shadow is showing you how far we moved... from the sandcastle to the container house.  You can't tell that the Kragt house is made of 2 shipping containers, with a brick kitchen addition. 

In the middle of July, Moses was busy in the house, mopping floors.  In the bedroom, a lamp began to fall when he bumped the table with the mop.  He was standing in a puddle of water, when he grabbed the lamp.  Not knowing that the lampshade had snapped the bulb holder, he gripped bare wires and went into electric shock.  After a number of seconds, Moses blacked out.  When he woke up, he didn't know that he had ripped the whole lamp from the cord, and now the exposed wires of the cord through him again.

I thank the Lord that I still have a husband. He went for x-rays the next day because his shoulder was hurting so much.  We are not sure if that is from falling, or the electrical exit point, but it has taken about 5 weeks for the pain to go away. God has kept him for more work here on earth!

Here is one level of the Gulu city main market... lots of fresh fish, produce and dried goods like flours, gnuts, lentils, etc.

I've been enjoying a study on the book of Matthew by Jen Wilkins. 

A strange plant for me, apparently from South Africa, but transplanted in Moses' village in Abaango. It's not edible, but so cool!

July 19th, we had a teary goodbye with our good friends and neighbours, Benj and Christina Kragt. We still sense them in our home, since Benj's hands built so much of our home. And Christina's snacks and meals flowed from the kitchen.

Moses is leading team prayers at Our Call Mission

I've always loved this tree in Abaango

Moses is helping the guys put up the trusses on the compound workshop.

Shadow - my little dude!

Moses - my handsome Dude!!

In June, we went back into strict lockdown.

My 45th birthday

Sharing the celebration with Benj, who turned 35!

Moses always knows how to make the house a festive place.

In the office building, on the Our Call Mission compound, a prayer "War Room" has been set up. On Monday's we have a team meeting, Wednesday's is a prayer meeting, and Friday's is a team Bible study.

Little Luna

A sweet friend surprised me every morning during my birthday week!! I felt loved.

Moses was invited to share God's Word at University Community Church just before lockdown began.  We enjoy fellowshipping with this little congregation.

Well, that's a tiny, pictorial glimpse of our lives the past few months. Thanks for checking this out.