RAU road sign. Its frame and poles are in the container headed to us. A special thank you to the Moore family!
As I write there is a cool breeze blowing in our north windows as day fades into evening. Even though rains have slowed it still remains comfortable each day and a light blanket is required at night. This is a very beautiful part of God’s creation!
Carol has just arrived in Entebbe from her short two week jaunt to American. After spending a few days in California with Gabby Bukenya in her aunt’s home and some time with a good high school friend she traveled on to Stephenville Texas. In Stephenville she had some precious time with family. In her next letter I am sure she will share some of those joys with you. I am happy she had this time with family. I am also very happy that she ,Lord willing, will be back here on Friday. I really missed her! Pray for her bus trip up from Kampala with Sam. Even though the rains have slowed the road between Gulu and Moyo remains very bad. Please also pray for Gabby as she has her heart surgery on Thursday the 5th.
We here at RAU continue to rejoice in God’s protection! As you know just recently I planted my bare foot only an inch away from a cobra and now just a few nights ago God protected us from unknown motives of some evil men. At about 4 AM a motorcycle slowed and stopped at our driveway entrance and when our guards, Aldo and Stephen, approached them from different directions they ran from their motorcycle which they couldn’t start. Aldo and Stephen do look intimidating in their camouflage and AK 47’s! They confiscated the motorcycle and it is still being held at the border station just a mile down the road. Praise God for Aldo and Stephen being here! Thank you for your prayers and support!
Stephen and Aldo
The supposed owner of the motorcycle has come forward and said it was stolen from him however he could not prove that it was his. There were 18 phones, a laptop and 200 S. Sudanese pounds with it. The bike had no plates and the border soldiers are not releasing it. Interestedly, a witchdoctor has come by the station and did his “thing” over it and said the people would be caught. That was a couple days ago and the thieves have not been caught. Witch doctors are often consulted by many and even by “church members”. The demonic is very active in this area! Our hope is in the Lord!
“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.”
Psalms 33: 18-22
I have paid another bounty out for a poisonous snake which was found by Muduga while working yesterday. There was no consensus among us on what kind it was however. It was small,blackish, and according to everyone present very,very poisonous and deadly. There is a short video of it here. We are working to clear all the ground around the Guesthouse and the refurbished tukalus. Also, as I mention in my last newsletter, we would like to put tile on the veranda of house. The veranda goes all around the house with the exception of the garage door entrance. The veranda now has a rough concrete surface. From my earlier encounter with the cobra in our kitchen we found out that is much more difficult for a snake to move on the slick surface of tile.
We are continuing to make progress in preparing the Guesthouse/Hall of Tyrannus for groups. Our tukalu repairs are continuing too and we about to fasten the outside door and put in wooden shutters in the vacant window spaces. We had a bit of a close call and almost burned our new grass roofs on the tukalu’s. It has been raining a lot so I thought it would be a good time to burn the tall grass and brush we had cut down between the Guesthouse and tukalu’s. The wind picked up all a sudden drove the fire towards the tukalu’s. Fortunately, we had pulled the debris away from the tukalu’s and their roof’s were spared. Grass roofs and fire do not mix well!
Close call!
Thank you all for your continual prayers and support. We could not be here doing what the Lord has called us to do without your loving support. May all our prayers be in the same manner as Philip Brooks (1835-1893), “Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men or women. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for power equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle but you shall be the miracle”
North Uganda
Here are our continuing needs that lay before us for you to pray for and consider helping us complete:
1. Finishing up the refurbishing of our four existing tukalus on the land. The four have now been roofed with new grass. To repair the doors, windows, and plaster them will require an additional $600. We have purchased the materials for the doors and windows and now are working on them. 2. The building of 4-5 more tukalu’s to house pastors/evangelists/church planters for discipleship. Each tukalu can take care of 4-5 people and they are inexpensive to build. To build one tukalu is around $500. 3. $1000 to dig a new double stall pit latrine for the tukalu quarters with an outdoor bathing facility. The existing pit latrine is about to cave in and there is no place to bath. (See our previous newsletters on the reason we are building these tukalu quarters ).
4. $4,000 for an outdoor kitchen and attached living quarters (one small room and bathroom) for Lucy, our cook/helper. The current one is about to fall down is some distance from the Guesthouse. As stated in an earlier newsletter we need an outdoor kitchen to be able to cook for large groups with wood and charcoal. To get propane gas for our indoor stove is hard to obtain and expensive. It also opens up the room Lucy is now staying in for guests.
5. The pouring of a slab to set the container on: $800+-
6. Upfront furnishings to host groups (beds,mattress,mosquito nets etc): $600+-
7. Tile our veranda to create an extra barrier between the Guesthouse and snakes! It would also make it easier to clean. We would have to bring the tile up from Kampala. The estimation to do this is $3000+-.
Continuing to Press Onward and Forward for Jesus and His Mission,
If you have any questions feel free to write and ask.
Thank You!
“I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.”
Hudson Taylor (Missionary to China in the 1800’s)
Reaching Africa's Unreached 