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)
I paid another bounty out for a poisonous snake which was found by Muduga while working this morning. There was no consensus among us all on what kind it was however. It was small and according to everyone present very poisonous and deadly.
We are working to clear all the ground around the Guesthouse and refurbished tukalus.
We have cleared a perimeter around the house and planted it with a local grass that is drought resistant and does not grow tall. When healthy it chokes out all other grasses and weeds. We dug it up from another portion of our 17 acres.
Also, as I mention in my last newsletter we would like to put tile on the veranda of house. In my last encounter with a cobra we learned it was easy to kill it while in the kitchen and perhaps why it did not strike my bare foot (which was only an inch away ) was because it was on our tile floor. Because of kitchen’s slick tile surface it was difficult for a snake to move. Around the the Guesthouse we have 10 foot veranda on three sides and it is 15 feet in the front. Because of what we have learned about a snake’s ability to move on tile we would like to tile our veranda to create an extra barrier between the Guesthouse and snakes! It would also make it easier to clean. The estimation to do this tile work is $3000+-.
We have been clearing and planting a native grass around the Guesthouse. In the foreground is one of our many newly planted mango seedlings and we have a trellis in the background for passion fruit
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Carol, I, and the RAU team praise God from whom all blessings flow! To be here serving the Lord and His people is such a privileged and honor. I also know we could not be here without your prayers,support, and Lifegate which has sent us out. We are grateful for you and by God’s grace will be here a long time serving Christ Jesus. Lord willing we will be able to partner with you for many years in spreading the fame of King Jesus across Africa!
Before going to some updates let me open with a couple of questions which you may have thought about from time to time, What do missionaries do? and What is the fundamental purpose of “Missions”? These are important questions and ones I have pondered many times ever since my discussions on the topic with Leonard Ravenhill back in 1977. I have noticed a trend over the years and that being the answers to these two questions have been broadened greatly. I appreciate and am grateful for everything good which has done for the glory of Christ in the name of missions but I don’t think that the broadening of definitions of “missionary” and “missions” has been particularly helpful to the churches call to “make disciples of all nations (people groups)”. To keep this newsletter from becoming to long may I point you to an article which Kevin DeYoung wrote. I re-posted it at the RAU blog. The article is entitled “The Goal of Missions and the Work of Missionaries”. The article is well written and bibilcally answers the before mentioned questions the the way I think they should be answered.There may be those who disagree with DeYoung’s conclusions. I do agree with DeYoung. I think it is helpful for you our partners to understand my heart as well as RAU’s primary mission and calling. I hope that you will take the time to read the article.
Since Reaching Africa’s Unreached founding in 2010 we have been working towards hosting groups for discipleship. Our goal has always been to bring to RAU groups of pastors, evangelists,church leaders, and church planters for times of refreshing and teaching in the fundamentals of the faith, especially the gospel. The primary work which we have been doing the past years along with Carol’s and my first days here has been for this purpose. Since Carol’s and my arrival at RAU six days a week from sunrise into the evenings we and others have been laboring to get the facilities ready for what we have called Phase I. Sunday mornings and early afternoons are reserved for worship/preaching in local churches and Sunday evenings for outdoor evangelism in the mode of George Whitefield and John Wesley.
Open air preaching in the Afoji market. I preached in English then it was translated into Madi and KuKu.
Along with helping out on the physical work I have also been working on teaching lessons. Currently I am making up questions and a study guide for Paul Washer’s book The Gospel’s Power and Message in his Recovering the Gospel Series. I am hoping to make it one my my main text books. Getting solid literature to pastors continues to be one of our longstanding goals.I have a post at the RAU blog about our partnering with “Study To be Approved” in placing Kindles loaded with godly literature into pastor’s hands. Please take a few minutes to read it at some point.
As the Lord provides resources and called/equipped personal we will also seek to show Christ’s love through medical work, education, and care for orphans. However, RAU’s primary calling is to discipleship and helping to spread the gospel through church planting in unengaged villages and people groups of the area.
We are purposing to host our first retreats for groups of pastors, evangelists,church leaders, and church planters sometime in September. Our goal is to bring small groups of them in for one on one Bible study from Tuesdays through Fridays. We will put them up, feed them, and help in some of their transport cost. As near as we can now figure it will cost around $500 to do this per group. However, we still have a number of upfront costs for things like beds,mattress,mosquito nets etc. as well as the other things I have mentioned in past newsletters. From the last week of October to the first week of December we will be hosting three American teams and one from Kampala. They are coming to share their God given gifts. We look forward to hosting them and many in the future as well.
Please continue to pray for the RAU container on its way to us. It is probably somewhere on the Atlantic Ocean. Please also pray for Gabby Bukenya, Patrick’s and Vickie’s 4 yr. old daughter, who is having heart surgery in California. Carol escorted her there and currently is enjoying family in Stephenville Texas. Carol will fly out of Dallas on Monday. Please pray for her safe journey back to RAU. The most difficult part of the journey is from Gulu to here. We had a truckload of building supplies which left Kampala for us three days ago and it is still not here because of a combination of the roads north of Gulu and a break down while trying to go up the steep hills from the Nile River to Moyo.
Please pray for the ongoing work to be ready for groups in September and give if you can to help make it happen. Currently our account is quite low. I hope that in your reading of these needs you do not feel undue pressure to give. Please give only as you are led of the Lord to do. God has been marvelously providing for us and we know He will continue to do so. Also it is our desire that any gifts given to R.A.U. would not compromise what you are ALREADY giving to your local church or to foreign missions . To get the gospel to the unreached will take sacrificial giving on the part of all God’s people. May we all walk faithfully in the spirit of 2 Corinthians 8 & 9 so that our Lord God is worshiped by men and women from every tongue , tribe, people, and nation! Most importantly we ask that you stand with us in prayer!
Here are some of 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.
We now have new grass roofs on existing 4 tukalu’s. Currently we are fixing the doors and windows. These tukalu’s will house 4-5 each
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 ).
The current latrine for tukalu’s.
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.
Our existing outdoor kitchen.
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. In a past newsletter I wrote of my near encounter with a cobra in our kitchen. Since then we have doubled our efforts in clearing around the Guesthouse and making sure there are no holes or places under doors for them to squeeze in! The main reasons it was easy to kill the cobra while in the kitchen and perhaps why it did not strike my foot which was only an inch away from my bare foot was because it was on our tile floor. Because of kitchen’s slick tile surface it was difficult for a snake to move.Around the the Guesthouse we have 10 foot veranda on three sides and it is 15 feet in the front. Because of what we have learned about a snake’s ability to move on tile we would like to tile our veranda to create an extra barrier between the Guesthouse and snakes! It would also make it easier to clean. The estimation to do this tile work is $3000+-.
Please continue to pray for everyone’s protection and good health. There is a lot of demonic activity in our area. For example, just recently a businessman from Afoji market went across the nearby border to South Sudan to do some business.The Afoji market is very close to us and it is where I did open air preaching this last Sunday night. While the businessman was there a man put his hand on his shoulder and said out loud to him in front of many “If I die tonight it will be your fault”! That very same night the man who placed his hand upon the man’s shoulder died by lightening strike. The next day the people who heard what was said to the businessman the earlier evening caught the Afoji businessman whom they believed cause the death by lightning. After catching him they then stoned him and then mutilated him. All this took place just a couple miles from RAU. The devil has come”to steal,kill, and destroy” and “our battle is not with flesh and blood…“. Please be vigilant in your prayers that Lord break the chains of the evil one and grant us protection from his schemes. Thank You!
Continuing to Press Onward and Forward for Jesus and His Mission,
Jacob (for the both of us)
“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)
Over 1,100 Global Study Bibles and 3,500 christian books for distribution to pastors and others are on their way ..PTL!
We have many reasons to rejoice in our Lord and to be thankful for your prayers and support! Let me briefly share a few of those reasons which have recently come our way.
We have often asked for your prayers for protection. Even though we are not receiving persecution like the Corinthians in the Apostle Paul’s day, the truths contained in the verses below express well how the Lord has delivered from a “deadly peril” here at R.A.U. and has caused us to set our “hope” afresh upon the Lord and “give thanks…for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
“He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”
2 Corinthians 1:10-11
This past week I almost stepped on a cobra! I left Carol’s and my room to go fill my water bottle for the night. As I was filling it in the kitchen I looked down and my bare white shiny foot was just an inch away from from a coiled cobra. I was using my excellent Coast LED flashlight as I had just turned off our solar power system for the night. I am praising God that I “just happen” to shine my light downward to see the cobra right next to my foot and it “just happen” not to strike. I was able to step back and call for back up. Thank you for your continual prayers! .
Killed cobra on our kitchen floor. Because of poor lighting the picture is not clear.
Thinking back on how we killed the cobra I have to laugh. First, Sam struck wide to the right with a voracious whack which snapped the stick he was using. Then Aldo our guard struck with his stick hitting it in the middle stunning it and then again holding it down with another whack. Then Stephen our other guard stepped on its head with his army boot…dead cobra!
We have been hard at work making a good clear perimeter around the house..about 60 yards at the narrowest point. As far as we can tell there are no holes into the house with the exception of the garage doors. We are actually thinking (not that I like this thought) that it may have been in the house all the while we have been here. Our “best guess” is that it was staying in a kitchen floor cabinet which we have not been using and just came out at night Maybe God used my very,very white feet to confuse the cobra but more likely it was because of your prayers and God’s gracious deliverance from “such a deadly peril” !
As you know from our past newsletters Carol was to accompany Gabby Bukenya, Patrick’s and Vickie’s 4 year old daughter, to California for heart surgery.They have arrived safely to Gabbie’s Aunt’s home where Gabbie will be staying. Gabbie and Carol are fine but very tired. They went via Dubai and their flight from Dubai to LA was 16 hours long!! Thank you for your prayers! Please remember to pray for Gabbie!
Carol will return here soon via a short stop over in Texas where she will be staying with Kenny, Anna, and our newest grandchild Keira. She will be with them three days in Stephenville. Josh, Becca, Eliza, and Ben are planning to make the trip to Stephenville. Carol is very excited to be able to see them all. In the midst of missing each them very,very much I am very happy that they can have this time together. I will look forward to being able to to do the same thing this coming Christmas. Please continue in your prayers that the Lord would continue to grant us grace in the midst of missing family very much. This is the most difficult hardship we face.
We are rejoicing that R.A.U.’s first 40 foot container has left Seguin Texas and is heading our way. It is due to arrive at R.A.U. in mid November. Carol and I have so many great friends and a home church, Lifegate, which is very,very supportive who have helped with this. Without their gifts and hard work this would not be happening. Christ’s love is so evident in their lives for us and Jesus mission (John 20:21)! Thank you to all who donated items for the container and the money to ship it. Thank you to each one who worked on it’s shipping and packing! There were so many things given the packers were not able to get everything in the container and many things had to be left. Lord willing, at some later point another container can be sent. To see everything which was given and pictures of the loading visit this link here. Please pray for its safe arrival to us!
Last time I wrote about how the Lord is helping us get ready for the container here at R.A.U.. Being in a remote area of Africa presents unique set of challenges for us! When the container arrives we will first off load it. Then we will have the truck drive to a spot where I will have a slab poured (one of my many projects to complete). We will tie the the back of the container with cables that are in it to the base of a tree. Then the truck will pull forward to drop the container on the slab. The plan is only an idea in my head now, please pray that the idea can become a reality :-)!
After R.A.U.’s founding in 2010 and it’s receiving of Ugandan NGO status our first phase has been to purchased land and have a place where pastors,evangelists, church leaders, and church planters could come for refreshment and strengthening in the gospel of grace so that they could be an encouragement to their congregations and actively be a part of spreading the gospel by planting churches in unengaged villages and among unreached people groups. There are 3,000 such groups in Africa with a number of them not far from R.A.U.. In September we want to bring in our first groups of pastors to the Guesthouse/Hall of Tyrannus.
We also wanted to have a place for teams to come on short term mission trips and share their gifts with the people. Currently we have three American teams and one from Kampala coming. Because of gifts and prayers of many we are closing in on completing Phase I with the finishing touches to the Guesthouse/Hall of Tyrannus, work on the grounds around the Guesthouse, planting of fruit trees (97 planted so far) for a future income for the ministry, and Tukalu guest quarters. Praise God for His abundant grace, provision, and the people who have helped make this happen.
We continue to ask for your prayers and generous support to carry out the vision and mission given to us by Christ. We are seeking to be good and wise stewards of what is given us making every dollar stretch to the maximum for God’s glory and spread of the glorious gospel to the unreached! Thank you very much!
Here are some the needs and that lay before us to 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 $1000. 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 pit 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 for the container: $800
6. Prayers for the safe arrival of the Land Cruiser which is on its way from Japan. Prayers for continue protection, wisdom, good health, and anointing in our teaching and evangelism.
Pressing Onward and Forward for Jesus and His Mission,
Jacob
“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)
On August 10, 2013 the RAU Guesthouse/Hall of Tyrannus and 17 acre compound was officially and publicly dedicated to our our Lord,God,and King. It had been 2 years since we had broken ground and 31 months since the land was purchased.
Guesthouse site in 2011August 2011August 2013
It was a long but blessed day! Preparations have been in the works for some time. Butchering and cooking started the night before and went late into the night. Everything was cooked over a wood fire. Many worked very hard to cook for the crowd of 300 plus. [*Correction: I was just told by those who counted that my number was way low and the number was 600 plus .]
Cooks at work
It was a good time ,great weather in the midst of the rainiest month of the year, lots of praise, lots of thanksgiving, lots of prayer, and a lot of speeches. The Member of Parliament for West Moyo District was the last to speak right after Carol and me. He cut a ribbon across the door and officially opened it with much shouting and praise from all the people!
A warm welcome was given from the ladies!
This land’s strategic location will enhance R.A.U.’s ability to bring in pastors, church leaders, church planters, and evangelists for retreats/conferences for Biblical encouragement with the expressed purpose that local congregations will be strengthened and become multiplying congregations. (See 2 Timothy 2:2 & Acts:19:9b-10). The R.A.U. compound will also serve as a base of operations to launch such conferences throughout North Uganda, South Sudan, Northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, and Lord willing further North so that the unreached and unengaged peoples in these regions will be reached with the glorious gospel.
All that we have and all that we do is in Your hands oh Lord!
Furthermore, as the Lord provides, the 17 acres gives opportunity to have a Medical/Dental Clinic, Orphan Care Center, Christian Primary and Secondary School for children, and a Vocational Training Center for adults with Micro-Finance opportunities. We are currently planting numerous fruit bearing trees (mainly Mango and Orange trees) on the 17 acres which would bring in a future income to supplement our ministry efforts.
Carol and I shared our hearts and vision with the people.The Member of Ugandan Parliament for this area gave a speech welcoming and thanking RAU. After speaking he cut the ribbon officially declaring the Guesthouse open “for the glory of God”. (See video below)A Feast of Celebration
Our first goal was to complete the R.A.U. Guesthouse/Hall of Tyrannus. The Guesthouse is where Carol and I are making our home. Our personal residence is the back bedroom. The other rooms will be for ministry teams and at other times for groups of pastors/church leaders/evangelists, and church planters which will come for several weeks at a time for Biblical training and encouragement. With triple bunkers we will be able to sleep many. We are also at work renovating four tukaloos which can serve as additional sleeping quarters. The large front room in the Guesthouse is our teaching Hall, aka “The Hall of Tyrannus” (see Acts 19:8-10).
Thank you to all who helped and prayed to get us to this point. We pray that the Lord will use these facilities and us to spread the fame of King Jesus in this part of Africa!
Reaching Africa's Unreached 