Down The Red Dirt Road

Showing the Jesus film in a nearby village

It never hits me (the effects of what God is doing in my life that is) until I stop to type an update. This is the main reason I don’t do them very often. Like a child stomping his foot at the correction of a parent, I stomp a mental foot at God, the last attempts of desperate
man to keep his emotions inside the box.

I like my box. I have many of them...cut part of a thumb off, put it in a box. Get hit in the face
with a bolt from a garage door spring, put it in a box. Take my family over 4 thousand miles, away from everything they’ve ever known, only to have the airline change one of our flights, then loose ALL of our luggage, then to have the house that we are supposed to be living in
still be under construction, and the house we do stay in for the first four days flood, TWICE!  That’s fine I can deal with all that stuff going wrong. I fold it up nice and neat and I put it in a box. And, while I may get a little frustrated, I don’t get mad. I box up all the emotions that come with all the different things I’m faced with and put on my blinders and I make it happen. I get busy making it "Do what it Do." As I begin to shut everything else out except for the fire that’s in front of me, God just smiles and then turns up the heat. As soon as I think I’ve got a handle on one problem He drops a sack full of other problems in my lap. Then He continues to rain down problems on my head until I give in and surrender. Surrender my pride, my control, my stubbornness...He crushes me under the weight of my circumstances until I hit my knees and cry out in total submission for the rescue that only He can give.  He recalibrates my thinking and forces me to fix my eyes on Him. To walk one step at a time. To depend solely on Him and His provision. He shows me that the portion He gives me is enough and to be satisfied in Him and Him alone.

As I type and reflect on all that has happened in our first three weeks in the field I can see how all the issues our family has faced since our arrival on the ranch, and before, were all designed by God to break us, stretch us, and strengthen us. As I type my soul rejoices
in the mercy and grace of my Lord. Who are we to warrant such attention from the creator?  Fixing my eyes once again on Christ has allowed me to fall in love once again with the people that He has called me to serve.

On a lighter note a gecko just fell about fifteen feet and landed on my keyboard which almost sent me backwards out of my chair..  And, for good measure a bat, that I assume was friends with the gecko, just dropped a present on my keyboard splattering me in the process☺ Man I
love this place!!


The team from Hunter Street Baptist Church arrived last week and has been doing a great job! They have started the refurbishing of the playground at the primary school on the ranch and they have also provided the funds and some of the labor to repair a well in a remote
village. This well had been down for six months and the villagers had been gathering water from a nearby swamp. I cannot overemphasize the importance of this repaired well to these people.  In appreciation for the teams work, the village members presented them with a mess load of matooke and one very scared rooster. Last night they showed the Jesus film in a nearby village and saw 26 people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. God is so good!!


Alicia is doing great! She has been talking with the headmistress of the primary school on the ranch about teaching dance motions and is also going to start teaching computer classes to some of the ACM staff. She has been working hard on team schedules and coordinating
activities through the various departments and ministries and hopes to begin a bible study with some local friends soon.

The kids are also doing wonderful and are making lots of new friends. The girls will be working at the primary school helping students to learn English and will also be working some in the secondary school where they have already begun making friends. Right now they are jumping in with the team and have helped with the playground restoration, sorting clothing and helping with the children's department. Wyatt is doing very well just being Wyatt. :) He draws a crowd of children around him everywhere we go. He has been a great bridge for the rest of the family to get to know our new community.

I have been invited to teach a basic electricity lab at CLA by a CLA student. I hope to start  that in the coming weeks and am excited to see where God takes it. There is a label here that is placed on kids who wish to learn trade. It’s a label that I’m all to familiar with.
It is one I think all of us "academically challenged" students are given and that is that we are stupid or slow. And because of that label, kids who would be better off learning a trade stay in school way longer than they should only to ether flunk out or drop out later, wasting precious financial resources and destroying their self-esteem in the process. I know to some that statement may seem harsh but it’s the truth and I am speaking from my own experience. 

When I was in school I felt dumb, slow, less than the other students in my classes, always in fear of being called on to read aloud or, even worse, that I would have to spell something on the board in front of everyone. I became the class clown to cover my fear of being found out. It wasn’t until I went to technical school that I excelled as a student. I know now looking back that for me to have continued my education would have been to waste a lot of my time and my family’s money. Every child needs a basic education but not every child needs or should seek a collage education. And that’s OK!! I make a very good living with my technical education, so does the carpenter that works out of ACM’s carpentry school here on the ranch. This man, who would love students and has a curriculum to teach, can't get students to come and learn his trade because of the "stupid" label. This is not just a Ugandan problem I might add.  Anyway, I have no idea where to even begin to change that type of mindset.  Any advice you all might have on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Our family would like to thank you all so very much for all your prayers, texts, and for all the letters and goodies that you have sent. God has used all of it, and continues to use all of it, to strengthen us and embolden us in our toughest moments.


Prayer requests

1. For continued protection of our family for the rest of our trip.
2. For protection for the Hunter Street Baptist team for the rest of their trip.
3. For safe travel for Satsuma First Baptist as they join us on the field
4. For safe travel the Bennett team as they join us on the field
5. That will bless the areas of ministry that our family will begin in the coming weeks
6. That God will open the doors to new areas of services
7. That we will not allow ourselves to be distracted by the schemes of the enemy.
8. For a visitor on the ranch who is praying about extending her stay.
9. Lastly and most importantly, that God’s name will be glorified in all He does through us..

-- 
*Ssalongo Wes*