August Prayer Letter

 Here's a link to our latest prayer letter.  Thank you for continuing to keep us in your prayers!

Pictures from the lock-down

By Anthony:

There hasn't been too much to blog about during this time of COVID-19 since we are unable to do trainings with large groups of people. But life continues and we have stayed active. The most exciting news is that we accepted new positions with Resonate Global Mission! We will tell you more about this in our next prayer letter. Here are some random photos from the last 4-5 months.

Before the lock-down restrictions started, I began an exercise group for local pastors in Soroti. I wanted to help them take care of themselves and stay healthy. We began with a small number, but we were gradually increasing until COVID-19 hit. Below is a photo of the pastors at our house after we finished jogging together. We also had plans to try out football (soccer), swimming, weight lifting, biking, and ping pong together. Hopefully, sometime later this year or next year we can resume our group.

During the lock-down, my nice computer chair broke. But Sara came up with a simple fix using a stool and strong wire. It looks unsteady but it's actually quite sturdy, and I am more comfortable now than I was before since now the chair doesn't move too much.

Some cool animal pictures:

A mushroom which grew in our yard. We added it to our stir-fry. We made very sure with local friends that it was safe to eat. We wouldn't take a risk! The one mushroom was like a whole packet worth of mushrooms from the store. It was huge.

A funny jar:

We made a fun meal of Ethiopian food the other night.

We have two great dogs, but both have significant health problems we have been dealing with this year. Thankfully God provided us with wonderful friends who are vets who have been guiding us as much as they can. For Beorn, we had to make a cone of shame using a large water bottle. It worked well, and although Beorn didn't like it at first, he adapted to it very quickly and it was like he forgot it was there.

We were finally able to take the cone off of him and he is doing better now, though he still likes to sleep in awkward positions.

Sara's fowl have reproduced like crazy. The cock (rooster) is my nemesis. He crows all day long every day, and it makes it hard to do zoom calls or talk on the phone. I threaten to eat him but Sara claims he is necessary if we want to keep having new chicks!

Here are the chickens eating a feast of termites that I exposed for them. It's hard to see in the video but there were hundreds of termites under the wood.

When the Ugandan government first said that everyone had to wear masks, people actually started to do so and it seemed about 1/2 or even 3/4 of the people in town wore them. But then the government promised to give masks to every person. After that promise, almost no one wears masks even if they own them, and we feel a bit foolish being some of the few people to wear a mask in town. Unfortunately the promised free masks never came. It's been a really weird year, in that restrictions are enforced in some places but not in others. Kampala, the capital, is very regimented, but where we are, people are having weddings and burials with hundreds or thousands of people, and without masks, even though the government rules are 10 people for burials and 7 people for weddings, and that is with getting special permission from local officials. As guests in the country of Uganda we are trying to personally obey all the rules even when they aren't being enforced or followed by our friends. It puts us in an awkward position sometimes. Uganda has had its first reported deaths due to COVID-19 in the past week. Restrictions were just beginning to lessen in the country, but now perhaps things will get really strict again. 

It's always disconcerting to find a snake skin in your yard when you live in Africa! (There are mambas and cobras in our area, especially the farther you get to the outskirts of town). But I am 90% sure, according to my snake book, that this is from a harmless snake. Anyway, it hasn't been seen again.

And a different living snake, but harmless. This one has been seen a few times. It freaked our guard out when he wanted to urinate in the latrine and it was there on the wall.

Sometimes when you buy meat from the butcher here, you get mostly skin and fat. This is pork and if you look closely you'll see that the meat was only about 1/4 or less of what we got. I read online that pork fat is actually quite nutritious. When we eat pork at friend's homes, we also usually get a lot of skin and fat (and hair), but the way they fry it, it ends up being really good and I enjoy it. In this case we made this into meatballs, and it turned out well.

You can see a little yard maintenance below. Papaya trees grow incredibly fast like most things in Uganda with such a great climate. Many of our trees had gotten way too tall to be useful, with their papayas out of reach. And these are weak trees despite their appearance and some were in danger of falling on the house. So we got help from Raymond, one of our guards, to cut them and pull them down. The trunks are so soft you can whack them apart with a machete.

Sara is a master farmer and our friends were shocked at the size of her cassava that she and Walter (one of our other guards) harvested together. This is from one plant only. Cassava is not very nutritious but it fills the stomach, and Sara has been able to help a lot of hungry people in Soroti with her cassava during the last several months.

Sara's garden in the plot next to us is becoming like a jungle. This is an old picture already. Many of the plants are taller than the walls. I always remember what our friend Jim told us during one of our first visits to Uganda. "In Uganda, you can just put a stick in the ground and it will grow." It's funny but true. The cassava you see above and below is planted just like that. As you harvest it, you break apart the stems and then just put the stick into the ground. It will then grow into another huge plant. 

Last, a picture post is never complete without baby rabbits.

Book Recommendation: A Bucket of Water

By Sara:

If you're still stuck at home and looking for things to do, I bring to your attention the book "A Bucket of Water: Reflections on Sustainable Rural Development" by Kanayo F. Nwanze.

I have to begin by saying honestly, if you have already read a lot of books on development, you won't find new and surprising ideas or techniques in this book.  However, there are many encouraging stories in each chapter about the ways peoples' lives have been improved through development work around the world.  It looks at the importance of agriculture in development, generally, and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically. 

As I read, I was encouraged to see how changes in different communities were brought about through the same kind of work World Renew is doing.  I had heard stories from people impacted through World Renew's work which were very similar to what is described in the book as effective.  For example, in the area of working towards official land ownership and training people on how to advocate for themselves with the government.  This is especially important because large-scale change cannot happen without governments taking responsibility for helping their own people - particularly investing in good infrastructure and agriculture.

The book discusses the importance of focusing on people over projects - planning projects with, not for, the people it's meant to help - and using creative, local solutions to problems.  The author also mentions how sometimes innovations which were discarded in the past can be brought back and found to be useful now.  It made me think of how helpful a fireless cooker is in Uganda today, something which existed over a hundred years ago in Europe and North America, but has since been forgotten. 

An overall theme of the book is how development in the area of small-scale agriculture is so important for addressing many of the problems related to poverty in the world.  The author looks at how improving the lives of small-scale farmers helps in bringing stability and peace in areas of conflict.  He points out the ways in which treating small farms as the businesses they are will improve the economies of countries.  Agriculture can also be developed to provide a desirable, productive occupation for the large populations of young people in many countries such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa.  And of course, when people grow a variety of crops on their small farms and eat what they grow, this can help improve nutrition and in doing so, raise productivity in the people who are now healthier.

All in all, there is hope!  Read this book if you want to hear more specific stories of empowerment and transformation from around the world.

Soroti Timothy Leadership Training - Manual 1

By Anthony:

A few months ago, I had the joy and privilege of starting a new TLT group in Soroti, the town we live in. It's fun that the church hosting the training, Deliverance Church Soroti, is literally a five minute walk from our home.

This training was very unique compared to my other TLT trainings. This time it was hosted by the Deliverance denomination rather than PAG, and between the trainers and the participants, we had 7 different denominations represented. But we also had some special guests for half of the training, bringing the total number of denominations to 9! This is probably the most ecumenical training or teaching I've ever done. There was a powerful feeling of unity and love for all the group members. There were no doctrinal fights, only good discussions, and everyone really appreciated studying the Bible together.

My co-facilitator was Engolu Joseph, pictured below. Joseph is a seasoned pastor with wisdom and insight, and also a gifted facilitator. But more than that, he is a good friend. He was our student at Pentecostal Theological College in 2009-2010, and he is also the senior pastor of the local PAG church that we worship with.





We had Henk with us from the Netherlands who was connecting with our group for the sake of the research he is doing about TLT for his doctorate program. Two Ugandan pastors from the Presbyterian church also joined him. We had to make some small adjustments to our program for the research but it all worked out really well and Sara and I had a good time getting to know Henk while he stayed at our home during the week.

It was exciting to have Karen and Moses, missionaries in Soroti, join us for the training. They were a huge help in the logistics, budgeting, and food issues. I'm very grateful for their service!  It was also a delight to have two other students that we taught at Pentecostal Theological College back in 2009 as TLT participants, Okiror and Okwi. There were also members from our small group and members from our church participating in the training.



Anne leading devotions one morning:



The first manual is Caring for God's People. We discussed how to make pastoral visits, how to do active listening, how to mourn with those who mourn, how to really get to know church members, how to have humility as a pastor, and how to seek lost sheep who have run away from the church.

Here is a video that shows you a little of the flow of TLT, how discussions go:

One of the discussions was particularly vigorous. In one of the lessons, there was a question about why Christians sometimes fear death. Many of the participants themselves admitted that they fear death. We were able to discern together that there were mainly two reasons for this fear among Christians in Uganda. 1. Many people have not been taught well about Heaven and the New Creation and the resurrection. Because of this, life on earth seems much better than the vague unknown of what is to come. 2. More importantly, we realized that many Christians don't have any assurance of salvation because although they believe in Jesus, functionally they are still believing in salvation by works, and they worry about whether they will be truly saved or not because they know they still struggle with sin.

This led into a quite in-depth Bible study in which I taught a lot about justification by faith and how we receive the righteousness of Christ, and how our punishment is already completely paid for by Christ. It got a little bit tricky at one point because I don't believe a person can lose their salvation, that is to go from being born again to not being born again, while 95% of the participants are from denominations that do believe that. But since I am very familiar theologically with other views about losing salvation (I used to believe that and argue for it myself), I was able to teach how justification by faith still leaves room for believing someone can lose their salvation. Carefully I explained that (even according to the official beliefs of their denominations) someone would lose their salvation by rejecting Christ and walking away from him, but not by accidentally committing one sin. But on the ground here in Uganda, the average pastor believes and teaches that if you sin once you lose your salvation. More theological teaching and biblical study is greatly needed in Uganda.

People were really touched by this discussion, and I had to painfully stop the conversation so that we could finish the manual in time. But at least we spent 1-2 hours on it. I hope and expect that many of them went home with a much better understanding of the Gospel and much less fear of death. A number of people wanted to invite me to their denominations to teach groups of pastors about salvation, justification, and sanctification. I'm excited to do so! Unfortunately those plans are halted for the time being while we are in lock-down because of COVID-19.

Small group discussions:

Each person telling the group about their new action plan:

Praying for the action plans:

This time instead of typing out some of their action plans, you can read them for yourself! I've removed their names for privacy. There are some very unique plans this time!