Random pictures and events

By Sara

One day, Anthony got a phone call from a neighbor, asking if we needed the ostrich egg urgently.  Anthony was super confused.  We didn't know we needed an ostrich egg.  But apparently another neighbor had told this guy that he should find one for us.  Maybe he thought it would be fun?  Anyway, that's how we ended up buying an ostrich egg for about $9 and cooking it up when my parents were visiting.

We had to crack a hole by hammering it with a knife.  Then, we stuck a fork into the hole to scramble it so the yolk would be broken and could come out the hole.

The white part of the egg doesn't get as white when cooked as that of chicken eggs.  It's more translucent, and the yolk was a bit more dry.  But it was good and fed the 4 of us for about 3 breakfasts. 

This is how we do laundry.  We often have animals keep us company while we do it:

Speaking of animals, look how cute the dogs are.  Beorn is getting big quickly; he's going to start giving Caleb a run for his money pretty soon.

Caleb is an expert hunter.  He's good at catching rats...and grasshoppers:

Here's a not-so-nice critter I found on the door one day:

It has been raining a lot lately.  One evening it rained 2 inches in just a couple hours and flooded our entire yard.  If only we had some water tanks to collect all that water coming off the roof!

Sometimes motorcycle taxi drivers just need a nap:

While my parents were here, we visited a teacher friend's geography class at a local secondary school (high school).  Lots of kids ride their bikes, as you can see.

Our friend is a good teacher.  He is great at keeping the students' attention and getting them to answer questions to stay focused on the topic of the day.

Some giant loads on trucks pushing everyone off the road so they could pass.  Also, they had a guy with a giant stick that he used to hold up any power lines that went across the road so these things could get under them.

Army man at sunset on the Nile River:

Oranges for sale by the road:

I Love to Preach

By Anthony:

One of the most satisfying activities God has given me to do is preaching. I have the opportunity to preach as much as I want, but we have decided that to keep a good balance in our lives, I will only preach two Sundays a month. On other Sundays we can attend our church here in Soroti - Pamba PAG.

I feel that God is really using me in this area not only to help the Christians who are listening, but to model good preaching to the pastors who we visit.  Usually after I preach, I leave my notes with the pastor of the church.  I don't mind sharing my notes quite often.  Even if someone might choose to preach my same sermon somewhere else, I am glad that people are learning how to dig into God's Word, how to structure a sermon well, and learning how to speak the truth in love.

Visiting other churches is also such an enjoyable time of worship and fellowship, meeting new Christians, encouraging them and their pastors, and having tea or a meal afterwards in many cases.  Some of our best conversations with people happen on these church visits.



One of the most exciting preaching opportunities recently was that I got to preach on the radio!  I had to wake up at 4:00am in order to do so, since the free spot given to PAG churches is at 5:00am, but it was an interesting experience.  People listen from all over the Teso region of Uganda, and it is an amazing amount of people who are already up at that time listening during their devotions time in the morning.  I keep thinking that Ugandans don't need sleep, or so it seems.

I preached on the parable of the persistent widow, and about being persistent in our prayers.  It seemed a fitting encouragement to widows and women on the international Women's Day.  The preaching was translated into Ateso from English as it is every week.  After the preaching, people call in to give feedback and ask for prayer.  I'm grateful for my friend Richard for giving me the opportunity.  Below are some clips Sara recorded from the radio broadcast.  You'll notice I speak oddly, I try to speak more clearly and slowly so that people can understand my accent.

I had another new milestone in preaching this year.  On one of my church visits I realized the sermon I had prepared did not fit the church context well, so I felt God leading me to change my message.  I made up a new sermon on the spot, but I think it was a good message for that particular church.  I realized that at least with some passages in the Bible, I am able to do this without preparation because I know the Bible passage really well, and the local context and needs well.  Of course I definitely don't encourage this practice for pastors generally, but it was nice to know that some messages are already in my heart and I'm ready to speak them.  The more significant point here is that I preached without a shred of notes.  It was good to do this, probably only the second time I have done so.  I'm such a perfectionist with a great amount of OCD that it's hard for me to preach without the careful notes I have prepared.  But I need to learn to trust both the Holy Spirit and myself more, believing that what I need to say is in my head and heart and I don't have to rely so much on notes all the time.

When preaching, I usually have someone from the congregation read the Bible passages in the vernacular language:

A visit to a village church in the Soroti area:

Most recently, we traveled to Kenya, each to facilitate several trainings.  While there we visited our World Renew colleague, Chris Shiundu, who is a pastor in addition to his work with World Renew.  On Palm Sunday, Sara was able to briefly teach and I was able to preach.  Here is a photo of us with his family:

And a video of the choir at the church service:

Guest Post: Mike Ladenburger

By: Mike Ladenburger (Sara's dad)

Visiting someone you dearly love is always a great blessing. Visiting someone you only get to see once or twice every few years is even more precious. The greatest joy of visiting Sara and Anthony in Uganda came from seeing how they live, meeting their friends, and seeing how God has prepared them for this life and is using them in working to advance the kingdom of Christ. Here are a few specific activities that will hopefully help you understand a little more about how they live.

Living close to the equator means that dawn to dusk is about 13 hours year round. Sara and Anthony started their day at around 5:30 AM. Since the sun came up just before 7:00 AM, and the temperature exceeded 90 F almost every day, Sara and I would go jogging every morning at 6:40 AM. Our runs took us down red dirt roads, and we would encounter many motorcycles and bicycles, and people out walking to work or school. It was enjoyable and insightful to see the day come alive as people were out starting their normal lives in Soroti.

One activity that Anthony and Sara set up for us was meeting with church leaders. Nancy and Sara met with women involved in women’s and care ministry, and Anthony and I met with Pastors and Elders to discuss church leadership, issues and challenges. It was a great time of fellowship where we learned from one another, and Anthony and I had the opportunity to encourage and pray for the Ugandan church leaders.

Anthony is an ordained Pastor and this means he is always called by his title “Reverend” with the PAG church leaders that he works along side in Uganda. It was clear through our time with the church leaders that Anthony is a respected and loved brother in Christ. He is a humble and gifted leader who is willing to learn from others, but he is also confident in sharing and teaching, as God has prepared him to do. We also had the opportunity to hear Anthony preach at a local church where over 700 people attended the first service. Nancy, Sara and I left after the 3-hour service, and Anthony preached at the second service as well. His sermon was on the story of Esther, and by a show of hands, very few people at church that day had read this book of the Bible.

Agriculture and owning livestock are a part of life for most people in Uganda, and Sara and Anthony are no exception. Since they just moved back to Uganda from Kenya last December, and since the rainy season does not begin until April, their garden is not yet growing, and the only animals in their yard besides their 2 dogs are ducks. I expect that in a few months there will be all kinds of produce growing in their yard, and that the ducks will have rabbits and goats joining them in the yard.

Sara is also using their yard as place to demonstrate some of the tools and techniques she teaches to others. We were able to help her complete the building of a clay oven and a clay rocket stove. Sara has shared her stories of these 2 devices in previous posts.

We were also able to help build a shelter to protect her baby ducklings from the unseasonable heavy rains that we experienced even though our visit was during the end of the dry season.

Guest Post: Nancy Ladenburger

By: Nancy Ladenburger (Sara's mom)

We had the joy of making another trip to Uganda in February, three years after our first visit, to see Sara and Anthony. We had a great time. Sara and Anthony planned a nice mix of things for us to do: ministry, meeting friends, work, plus we went to Murchison Falls for a fun three days of vacation together.

As the mother of a missionary, it meant a lot to me to see where they live, how they do things, and spend time with their friends. That helps me so much to know how to pray for them, and I can now envision where they are when I think of them.

During our 13 day visit, we got to experience some of the ups and downs of life in Uganda. We didn’t have hot water in our shower, but that wasn’t so bad, since the temperatures were in the 90s. Some days the water was off, and several times the power went out. Sara and Anthony adapted very well to these inconveniences. They got out the candles, solar lights and generator, and made the most of every situation.

It was so nice for us to get away from the cold Michigan winter, so the Ugandan heat was a nice change for me. I really enjoyed the tropical fruits and fruit juices we were served. A friend shared a pineapple with us, another friend shared part of a jackfruit, I tried passion fruit, and we ate several papayas.

They have a few papaya trees in their yard, and Mike and I had fun picking them. Their day worker was able to knock the papayas out of the tops of the trees with a stick, and we did our best to catch them in a sheet…with varying rates of success.

I enjoyed cooking and shopping with Sara in the market, and seeing the ways she is communicating with the sellers, negotiating prices, using kilos as weight and shillings for money. I admired how she managed the gardens, fruit trees, ducks and ducklings. It reminded me of the Proverbs 31 woman who sews, shops, and manages the vineyards!

I was very proud of my daughter, who is living so comfortably in another culture and doing things I have never done, like butchering a duck and preparing it for dinner. She showed me how to roast coffee beans on the stove top with beans she brought from Kenya, and I helped her make a birthday cake with carrots and fresh pineapple to celebrate her 34th birthday.

Since I like to entertain, I really enjoyed the afternoon they invited friends over for tea. We sat on the porch drinking tea and eating cornbread, and talked about our faith and the Bible. What a joy it is to travel to the other side of the world and find Christ-followers who share our faith and love for the Lord.

I spent a lot of time looking out the window as we traveled. I was humbled by the hard-working women I saw walking along the road with a jerry can of water on her head, a load of sticks or reeds, and often with a baby strapped to her back. My life is so easy by comparison.

I am pleased that Sara is finding ways to help women with some of the difficult tasks of cooking. Sara has always been artistic and crafty, and God is using those skills in interesting ways on the mission field. With the benefit of the internet, where she can read about rocket stoves and clay ovens, she has the creativity to reproduce it and teach it to others. I see so many of her projects as a way of empowering women to improve their lives.

Anthony did a great job driving us from the airport to their home, and to the national park. He is a safe and careful driver, but it was clear that there are many hazards on the road that create driving challenges. Safety on the roads is one of the things I am often asking others to pray for them. As if potholes, trucks and motorcycles aren’t enough of a problem, there are people walking along the shoulder of the road at all times, and many of them children.

Saying goodbye was not an easy thing to do. As you pray for Sara and Anthony, please pray for their families too, that God will give us grace and peace as we release them for His purposes.