For those of you who think we are "lost" (a Ugandan expression for having not heard or seen us for a long time) since we haven't posted anything for a while we are still here just been a bit busy.
At the beginning of June we had a guest arrive for almost three weeks. Emma Blackwelder is a student in a college in Missouri, USA. We first met Emma back in 2010 when we were in Dubai. We have kept in contact since that time and she asked if she could come and visit us in Uganda and do some ministry with us. She spent the first two weeks with us as we acclimatised her to life in Africa. She was also able to go on a flight with Simon and see more of Uganda. Friends of ours, Luan and George Fellman, who work out in Fort Portal (Western Uganda) had kindly agreed to have Emma out there with them for a few weeks as we have another guest arriving next week. Anyway Emma is interested in Women's ministry so she was able to attend the Bible studies that I teach and she will see how Luan does ministry with the ladies in the village where she lives. I am postive she will go home with quite a few tales to tell. :)
Luan also stayed with us for a week during Emma's time with us. This turned out to be very beneficial so they could meet and chat about what was going to take place over the next weeks. Luan took her into Kampala on public transport and showed her the delights of the city. Things like the crazy taxi park, the joys of bartering for things and going to a class on how to make soap (that didn't go quite as planned for the teacher).
They both left for Fort Portal last Thursday on the bus and made it safely there. We pray that they have a great few weeks together ministering to the ladies in the west of Uganda.
Simon has also been away on a couple of Sudan trips this month. Thankfully the weather has been kind and he hasn't had any of the repeat of his previous trips of getting stuck in the mud. Yesterday he just came back from a trip to Nasir dropping off a lot of supplies for the Aid Sudan team. I am sure I will hear more about the trip over the weekend. He was away early again today as he had two flights, one to northern Uganda in the morning and then a flight to Congo in the afternoon.
Our MAF programme has shrunk a bit over the last couple of weeks due to families heading out for furlough. We pray that they get some rest in between all the meetings and visiting. It can be a busy time also. Please pray for our programme here, if you think of it, as the workload gets busier for those of us who remain here.
Next week we have another guest with us for two weeks, Carol Weir. Some of you reading this post will know her very well. She was my Bible class teacher when I was a child at Wester Hailes Baptist Church and a special friend. We are looking forward to her visit and showing her our life here in Uganda. We are hoping to be able to get her on a MAF flight with Simon and so she can experience more of Uganda than just Kampala :) We will see how that goes.
Joshua and Zara finished school yesterday and are overjoyed at being on holiday. They also got their end of term reports this week. Thankfully they are both doing very well at school and we are proud of them.
The week before last Simon and I were invited to go to school for a special assembly called the WOW awards. These WOW awards are for achievement, progression and creativity in various subject areas. Joshua gained a certificate of outstanding achievement in French and also received an achiever badge. He also succeeded in getting his gold merit badge this week for reaching 150 house points. He was so determined to get this badge before the end of term as he had already had attained his bronze and silver. It was definately a week of celebration and made all the hard work worth it.
Thanks to all of you who have been praying for the Bible studies I have been teaching. We came to the end of our study on Spiritual Warfare a couple of weeks ago. Our new study has already started on the "I AM| sayings of Christ. In order to get people to dig people deeper into the Word and because we are using a guided study book for this Bible study I have asked for volunteers to lead it. Four ladies signed up for it and it has been wonderful to see how much they get out of the preparation time because they have to dig deep. We will continue Bible study until the end of July and then we will take a break for one month. The Bible study group in the MAF office will continue for another three weeks as will the new group that started a few weeks ago for day guards and house staff which includes two men :). It has been a joy to lead these studies and see the women grow in their love and knowledge of the Lord. Pray as we look at what we should study in September and how it is going to look like.
On a different note please continue to pray for Simon's Mum who had two lots of chemotherapy last week. She is doing well as far as I have heard but keep praying. Thanks!
Again, we say thank you to all of you who continue to support us in our work here with MAF. We know a lot of you pray for us and we value those prayers.
