Highlights

We've been on the go, and without good internet, for much of the last week!  Here are the highlights in pictures to get you caught up!

Future shoe makers in our Gayaza Project!

Gifts from the Gayaza Project team - a new dress, a Uganda t-shirt, and two pairs of sandals.

Justice leads the Kamwokya kids in a song.

Hanging out with a few of the many children with albinism in ECM projects.

We brought four laptops to Africa for various projects. Here is Dennis in Gulu receiving his computer.

Speaking to the Tegot Atoo children in Gulu.

The chicken project is up and running in Gulu.

Baboons on the road between Kampala and Gulu. Always fun to watch. One even jumped on our hood!

In Tororo, little Jessica, focus of our 2015 Christmas letter, sits peacefully.

Stacy receives a gift in Tororo with the children looking on.

Final two of ten Afayo classrooms built for St. Paul Primary School. See the old classrooms to the right?!

The wheel hub broke on the Afayo truck on the way home from the village.  Rough roads! 

Some Sad News

You never want to hear the pilot interrupt your flight to say "I have some sad news."  For the first time in our lives of flying we heard those alarming words.  Barely 20 minutes into our flight to Entebbe, Uganda, we had just watched our plane do a complete 180, heading back to Nairobi, so we were expecting some kind of update from the cockpit.  It was almost a relief to hear the announcement that there was a only minor problem with one of the wings that kept the plane from getting as high as needed, and the pilot had been advised to return to the airport.  Honestly, I had quickly imagined far worse scenarios when I heard the words "sad news."  We arrived in Uganda 2 hours late, but safe and sound.

What is it that makes us worry?  What is it that makes us think the worst?  Is it just our human nature, something that is almost impossible to control, or is it a simple choice that we make each day?  Jesus certainly didn't allow it as an option in our lives, (see Matthew 6), yet we still do it all the time.  And truth be told, the world we live in could make a person worry themselves to death.  These days, the upcoming US presidential election is enough to do that.

Listen, no matter what happens to my airplane, no matter who becomes the next president, and no matter what the economy will look like in 12 months, God is in control.  Always has been, always will be.  End of story, and end of worry.  Don't let the world's sad news cause you to forget the Good News!

Here's some more good news: we just completed a successful training workshop for the Ugandan staff.  We are blessed at ECM to have such competent staff on the ground doing ministry!  Keep them in your prayers!

ECM Uganda staff hard at work during today's training workshop.

By God's Grace

Haven of Hope children helping to lead worship at the Sunday morning service.

Ghanaians are fond of saying "by God's grace, I'm doing well" when they are asked how they are doing.  They seem to understand that all our blessings come from God, who continually shows us mercy and grace!  I'm not quite so good at that.  It is easy for me to forget that my very life is a gift from Him!  I have a friend in Uganda who starts almost every prayer with, "thank you for life and breath."  I take it all for granted.  But whenever I travel in Africa and visit with my African friends, my perspective changes, and I am reminded of my need to thank God for even the simplest of things: for the sunrise, for a safe trip across town, for a hot meal, and for good health.  Being thankful is a choice.  Let's all make a point to thank the Giver of all good things for His love and blessings!

Our trip has gone well so far!  We have visited with many staff members as well as ECM missionaries Jim and Carolyn Driscoll.  The staff workshop that was held on Saturday was a big success, and everyone had a lot of fun (and may have learned a thing or two as well!).  We were blessed to be a part of the Haven of Hope worship service today, and tomorrow we are off to the Eastern Region to visit one of ECM's projects, plus the newly started piggery.  More meetings on Tuesday, and then off to Uganda on Wednesday.  Please pray for us as our journey continues. By God's grace we will carry on!

What's in a Name?

Elmina Slave Castle - Ghana

Over the years we have been amused by the shop names we have seen on African roadsides.  Today, while driving in Ghana, two in particular made me smile: I Shall Not Die Motors (wanna buy your car from them?) and Father Forgive Them Gift Shop (what kind of gifts do they sell, anyway?) I've seen a hundred others like these over the years, but they still make me laugh.

But another name I read today did not make me laugh. On the contrary, it bothered me greatly.  We were at the Elmina Slave Castle on Ghana's "Gold Coast," where we got a first hand glimpse of how slaves were treated before being loaded on ships as cargo and sent into a lifelong prison in a foreign land.  The cruelty made me cringe.  Within the castle, there was a plaque above the grave of one of the castle's governors.  The plaque called him a Christian man of great character.  I don't make a habit of judging people, even ones who have been dead for over 300 years, but the words "Christian" and "character" did not seem to fit the man buried below.  This I know: as I wear the name "Christian" I had sure better bring honor and glory to the one I'm named for.  After I'm gone, I don't want someone to think about my life and wonder how I could have ever called myself a Christian!

Hope Springs Eternal

Growing up as a baseball fan in the 70's, I learned the meaning of the word hope.  Hope is what kept me following my favorite team (the Tigers) through the dog days of summer, when they lagged behind in the standings, and any reasonable person would have thrown in the towel.  Hope is what made me check the scores in the newspaper, to see how my team fared long after my parents sent me off to bed the night before. Each spring, hope was awakened, giving new life to the dreams that had been dashed the previous year.  As the old saying goes, "Hope springs eternal." 

For Christians, the word hope has a much deeper meaning.  The Psalmist writes, "But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish (Ps 9:18).  Yet as Paul writes, "Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently" (Rm 8:24-25).  There is an understanding that in this world we will have trouble, but Jesus gives us his peace, enabling us to continue to have hope despite difficult circumstances.  Hope is not our final destination, but is what enables us to carry on until we reach it. 

As Christians, we are called to bring hope to the afflicted.  At ECM, we believe it is our responsibility to give the hope that Jesus offers to those most in need. It is the hope that God has not forgotten them, that he has a plan for them, and that he will one day not only rescue them from their distress on this earth, but will also give them an eternal reward.  Now that's worth hoping for!