Pictures from Africa, April 2012

Pictures: Two leaders from northern Uganda. One of the men had his wife kidnapped by soldiers 15 years ago in the war and he never saw her again. The others are of pastors studying together in Iganga, Uganda. There were pastors from all over the city, from many different denominations.

Final Stretch in Kenya

My life sometimes feels like a zoo where they let all the monkeys out. Actually, this morning there was a monkey in a tree outside our building screaming at some birds. But otherwise life has been a bit chaotic since leaving Uganda. The trip to Kenya went fine but before I left I got a sore throat. I still have it a week later, although it is not bad. I am not sure if it is viral or allergic. A doctor gave me some antibiotics but they did nothing. Also I have a significant rash on my feet and lower legs. It doesn’t bother me much either but is awful to look at. I do not know if the two are related. The medication has made sleeping difficult and the meals have been haphazard so I am feeling a bit weak. From what I am not sure: food, lack of sleep, sickness, the heat??? This is Africa.

The training here did not get off to a good start. Only about half the class came the first day, so a lot of time was wasted. Today was better with only two missing. The pastors are such eager learners and though the progress is slow, it is consistent. I celebrate each small step forward as a major victory. By the end of the day I am beat, even though I have a training partner here, which helps a lot. I am not sure I could do it this week without help and the breaks that come when he teaches.

I have struggled for the past couple of weeks with internet availability. I thought when I got here it would be better because I brought a Safaricom modem in past years and it has worked great. But the first day somehow I accidental erased the driver on it and have been unable to fix it. So we go down to the Cyber Café in town and hook up there. It severely limits availability and makes the evenings long. But it is cheap, about 50 cents for a one half hour session. It’s not a place you want to stay in for a long time. I am attaching some photos of the time in Uganda. Enjoy!

Thank you for your continued prayers,

Al

Eyes opened in Uganda

A lot has happened since I last wrote. I have been in Iganga, Uganda for the past three days and have conducted a pastors conference for the past two. I gave a simple introduction to the methods and principles we use in training pastors to study the Word. It had a powerful impact on the pastors. Let me give you one example. I was teaching them the idea of doing good observation of a passage before we try to understand it. I broke them into groups and assigned passages and asked them to find 10 observations in the passage. One of the passages was Romans 12:1-2. My translator worked on that passage. He came up to me and said that he had been preaching for 18 years and had never realized that he needed to study like this. He was so excited with what he was seeing just by taking time to observe carefully these two verses. He said he felt like crying that he had not learned to do this earlier. I was reminded in my heart that this is exactly why I do this ministry, for men like Robert. What a joy to see them begin the discovery of the scriptures.

I rode from Kampala, the capital of Uganda, to Iganga with a famous bishop here in Uganda. He had been invited to come and preach in the evenings for the open air crusade they were having. As I conversed with him I was unsure about the man. What he said was all good but I felt uneasy. That first night at the crusade I realized that what he had told me privately and how he preached were two different things. It was pretty close to the health and wealth gospel, calling people to come to Jesus for all the good things he would do for them. There was no mention of sin, forgiveness, etc. None of the other pastors said anything to me that night. The next day we started the conference and I began teaching them the beginning steps to studying the Word and challenging them to preach the Word to their churches. That night we had more of the same in the preaching at the crusade. But that night all the pastors realized the difference between what this man preaching and what I was teaching them. They were very disappointed that he was not preaching the gospel or using the Word accurately. Several said the Bishop should have been at my training and he would have done better.

Tonight the bishop had to go home and they asked me to preach at the crusade. It was an open air affair in a vacant lot near the center of town. I would not say this is my area of giftedness, but the Lord calls. The men all wanted to hear how I would preach the gospel differently so there was a little pressure on me to do well. I had very little time to prepare and had no idea what to preach. The Lord gave me the idea to preach from Luke 5 and the story of the man let down through the roof. It worked perfectly. The former preacher talked only about coming to Christ to get your problems solved, receive health, financial blessings, etc. In the passage I used, the man was paralyzed so had a very apparent need. But Jesus did not heal him immediately, first he forgave his sins. I used that to teach that we have a bigger problem than health, wealth, etc. We have a problem with sin and the judgment of God. I was able then to present the gospel clearly. It appeared later that a few people responded and gave their lives to Jesus. The pastors all really appreciated the model. God is good.

The pastors are all excited about organizing for future training. I think within a year we will start the 3 year training cycle here, perhaps in at least two locations. One large disappointment came today as I was supposed to meet with an important potential partner for training in another part of Uganda tomorrow. I did a conference at his church last year and I had hoped to begin discussing setting up the training program with him on this visit. Unfortunately, his son came down with a life threatening condition so the man cannot come and meet with me. I am not sure what the Lord is doing with regard to that but I choose to trust Him.

Thanks again for your prayers, and for following along with my adventures with the Lord!

Al

Pictures from Elephant Park in Thailand

More Pictures from Czech Republic

Pictures from Czech Republic

Thai Elephants & The Czech Republic

Before we left Thailand we spent a half day at an elephant camp where we had the opportunity to get up close and personal with dozens of elephants. We watched them bathing and saw some really young calves. The elephant keepers did a little demonstration of what the elephants can be trained to do. Elephants kicked a large soccer ball, painted pictures with brushes held by their trunks and moved large logs. Edie was even kissed by one. It was a fun day.

We have been in the Czech Republic for a week now and have had a great time here. Initially, we spent a couple of days in a pastor's guest house getting accustomed to the time zone, and it was much appreciated. Just being in a small town like this is a walk through history. It has been interesting to come to Prague again. The weather has been much colder than it was in Thailand. We went from the 90’s there to snowing the second day we were here. We have been learning how to navigate the subways and trams and made our solo trips today without any problems. During our time off we have seen some of the sights in downtown Prague and around the area.

I also made a trip a couple of hours north to meet with some pastors who want to train in Sudan and the countryside was beautiful, although I was not able to get any pictures (I am sending some pictures of the area around Prague in other emails). The meeting was quite confusing as I tried to keep up with the conversation with part time translation. The men were really struggling with how to form a missions effort to send on pastor to Sudan for ministry. We all felt that their plans had many significant flaws and tried to gently encourage a new direction. Hopefully we were of some help to them.

I have been able to connect with several missionaries and Czech nationals concerning training here in the future. It looks like something may get started after the first of the year. Training in the Word is needed here as most pastors do not preach the Word well even though most have gone to seminary or bible school. We will see what the Lord provides as time goes by.

From Edie: I too have really been enjoying my time here. The friendships are growing and I have a great respect for what the women are doing here to share the gospel and their very lives with the Czech children and families in their neighborhoods. I had a really good time visiting the English classes. Judy and I were asked to play a 20 questions game with the students answering with something unique we have done, something unusual we did as a family, and an interesting place we have visited. There were three 1 hour sessions, each with varying degrees of difficulty. The 20 questions game was with the advanced group. Other groups just asked us simple questions. Another activity we did was to join Renee and her preschool Roma kids for a time of songs, activities, bible stories and a snack. She was doing the resurrection eggs with the kids this time and they seemed to really enjoy it. During the time we met with the team, the ladies asked that I share my faith story. I didn’t have much time to prepare but felt the Lord gave me a way of honoring Him, while at the same time talking about the life He has given me. It was a personal blessing for me to recall all His “mysterious” ways and to look back upon the seemingly obscure things he has done in and through me. Our God is so amazing!

Tomorrow Alan leaves for Uganda and I will leave for home on Monday. I am looking forward to celebrating Resurrection Sunday in the Czech Republic with our brothers and sisters here. It will be memorable as we all consider what His death, resurrection and life in us means.

In Christ,

Al & Edie

Pictures from our time in Thailand