It is as official as it is going to get! When we leave for Uganda on May 30th, we will be on our way to a year-long adventure working with Healing Faith Uganda. We will call Jinja, Uganda home as we travel to the surrounding villages to build and maintain relationships that Healing Faith has established in their almost-three-years in this area. The focus of this ministry is malaria education, prevention, and treatment.
The tentative plan is for us to learn from Jason and Kari Segner, the directors of Healing Faith, for the summer. One prayer request during that time is for housing for our family and a second van for the ministry to accommodate both of our families as we serve together.
Once September arrives, the Segners and their children will head to Texas for a few months of furlough, and we will move into their home and do our best to fill their shoes.
Our family prays to be situated in our new, temporary, African life by then. We will spend our days asking God where He would have us serve and who He would call us to love. We will be visiting families in near-by villages, dispensing malaria medicines, and being present in the lives of all those who Kari and Jason have come to know and love.
We could not be more thrilled about this amazing opportunity! It truly is a gift and an adventure planned by Our Creator, who has always seemed to have a much more phenomenal plan for our lives than anything we ever imagined for ourselves.
The kids have not voiced a single concern about this big move. They are obsessed with looking at pictures of the Segner's life in Uganda, and the fact that our now dogless family will be outnumbered by dogs in our new home. They love that Mom and Dad will be their teachers next year, and that they will get to help people.
We have spent the past week completely cleaning our house and getting it ready to "show". While we have a family that we would LOVE to be able to rent to, the top of their budget is only about 1/2 of what we would need. We are praying in a big way for direction as we proceed.
This also leads us to our next item on the agenda...fund raising.
Remember our journey through 7? Remember us living with less and our "mutiny against excess"?
Isn't it just mind-boggling how God was preparing our lives and our hearts for just this kind of mission long before we ever knew of this opportunity?
When we had finally acknowledged the life of excess spending and all of the waste, we changed our habits. Although we are eating more than 7 foods, our monthly expenses have decreased drastically. This has allowed us to save and give away a great deal of money this past year. We have been so blessed, but in order to make this year with absolutely no income possible, we will have to raise money for our living expenses.
Please join us in praying for fundraising plans to come together and be successful. We especially are praying for 20 people to come alongside us as monthly supporters ($100/month) for our time in Uganda.
No worries here though...when we asked for support for Return Ministries' Land, it was provided in just over a month. They are set to purchase the land this month!
What a joy it is to serve God together with such loving, prayerful, and supportive friends!
