December Newsletter
December, 2007, Kampala, Uganda, Africa
It is hard to believe that I am writing the word, December. How quickly this year has passed and we are so grateful for the health and challenges we have experienced and look forward to once again celebrating the birth of our Lord. We are even seeing some red and green items of decoration in a few stores. The decorations of Uganda are not quite the American ones so it rings a happy note to see some red and green. I even have a small tree with more lights than tree, but am enjoying it....and it took only 15 minutes to decorate. Ha.
We traveled about 4 hours to Mbarara to celebrate Thanksgiving with the other missionaries serving in Uganda and Rwanda. Many of our missionary family are on stateside but we had 41 folks there and even had turkey and dressing…and someone had come with cranberry sauce with the whole cranberries. We had a wonderful few days of sharing and had extensive prayer times in solitude and with other missionaries. It was a time of rich encouragement and fun. PRAY for the Great Lakes Cluster of missionaries.
Our church, Kathleen Baptist, generously gave money, after hearing a burden that God had laid on the heart of Charlie and Garnett during their visit here, to buy bodas (small motorbikes) for two of our house church pastors. The money flowed in one night and before we knew it, we were able to purchase them. They were not given to the persons individually but to the Manna Ministry project and are then shared by the pastors and other leaders. It makes such a difference in their travel all over the city to various house churches. Travel here is by taxi, which is time consuming and not cheap, or going many miles by foot-which many of our leaders do, or riding a boda which is quite expensive. So this gift for the purchase of 2 bodas is such a blessing to our leaders. Thank you, precious church family, for your generosity. What a blessing you are. PRAY for the safety of our leaders as they travel on them that they may arrive quickly; but also safely. And PRAY that the work may grow stronger because they can go to more areas in a day.
We traveled to Kitgum, in northern Uganda, to help find housing for the transfer of one of our missionaries, Evert Tackett, to work there. Kitgum is a small town situated in the heart of the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps. These camps are many and the huts within them house hundreds of displaced persons. I have shared about this in other updates. Evert became burdened about this area and has not been able to put it to rest though he came to Uganda to do a completely different job with volunteers. We know no one with a more evangelistic heart than Evert. If you stand still, you will hear the gospel. We are so proud of him but we miss him very much. He is a real friend and encourager to us. PRAY for this new direction for him.
Our friends, Jim and Sherry, visited us for 10 short days this month. They served with us in our first years at Kathleen Baptist. They left after about 12 years to work in East Asia. We enjoyed every minute of our visit and were able to share our work with them and also to show them our beautiful game park….giraffes and elephants. We talked for hours and caught up on years of separation. PRAY for Jim and Sherry’s work. It is strategic.
There is an Ebola outbreak in the far western side of Uganda at the Congo border. It has certainly brought concern to Uganda and there have been several deaths. PRAY that these concerns can be handled with wisdom and that the virus can be controlled. At this point we do not feel endangered but with travel throughout Uganda, we, or some of our missionaries, or Ugandans we know could be confronted with it.
It is hard to believe that I am writing the word, December. How quickly this year has passed and we are so grateful for the health and challenges we have experienced and look forward to once again celebrating the birth of our Lord. We are even seeing some red and green items of decoration in a few stores. The decorations of Uganda are not quite the American ones so it rings a happy note to see some red and green. I even have a small tree with more lights than tree, but am enjoying it....and it took only 15 minutes to decorate. Ha.
We traveled about 4 hours to Mbarara to celebrate Thanksgiving with the other missionaries serving in Uganda and Rwanda. Many of our missionary family are on stateside but we had 41 folks there and even had turkey and dressing…and someone had come with cranberry sauce with the whole cranberries. We had a wonderful few days of sharing and had extensive prayer times in solitude and with other missionaries. It was a time of rich encouragement and fun. PRAY for the Great Lakes Cluster of missionaries.
Our church, Kathleen Baptist, generously gave money, after hearing a burden that God had laid on the heart of Charlie and Garnett during their visit here, to buy bodas (small motorbikes) for two of our house church pastors. The money flowed in one night and before we knew it, we were able to purchase them. They were not given to the persons individually but to the Manna Ministry project and are then shared by the pastors and other leaders. It makes such a difference in their travel all over the city to various house churches. Travel here is by taxi, which is time consuming and not cheap, or going many miles by foot-which many of our leaders do, or riding a boda which is quite expensive. So this gift for the purchase of 2 bodas is such a blessing to our leaders. Thank you, precious church family, for your generosity. What a blessing you are. PRAY for the safety of our leaders as they travel on them that they may arrive quickly; but also safely. And PRAY that the work may grow stronger because they can go to more areas in a day.
We traveled to Kitgum, in northern Uganda, to help find housing for the transfer of one of our missionaries, Evert Tackett, to work there. Kitgum is a small town situated in the heart of the Internally Displaced Persons’ camps. These camps are many and the huts within them house hundreds of displaced persons. I have shared about this in other updates. Evert became burdened about this area and has not been able to put it to rest though he came to Uganda to do a completely different job with volunteers. We know no one with a more evangelistic heart than Evert. If you stand still, you will hear the gospel. We are so proud of him but we miss him very much. He is a real friend and encourager to us. PRAY for this new direction for him.
Our friends, Jim and Sherry, visited us for 10 short days this month. They served with us in our first years at Kathleen Baptist. They left after about 12 years to work in East Asia. We enjoyed every minute of our visit and were able to share our work with them and also to show them our beautiful game park….giraffes and elephants. We talked for hours and caught up on years of separation. PRAY for Jim and Sherry’s work. It is strategic.
There is an Ebola outbreak in the far western side of Uganda at the Congo border. It has certainly brought concern to Uganda and there have been several deaths. PRAY that these concerns can be handled with wisdom and that the virus can be controlled. At this point we do not feel endangered but with travel throughout Uganda, we, or some of our missionaries, or Ugandans we know could be confronted with it.
We just received word that one of our Newtwork Pastors, Paul died last night. He had AIDS and TB. Please pray for his family and the house churches in Gulu.
Yes, yes we are missing sweet Isaac and the pictures of him grow dearer. It is not so much that it is Christmas that makes us miss him, but just that we want to love and squeeze on him. He looks like a ball of love. And we also miss Jason and Janet/Timothy. We are so proud of them and the love we share and are grateful for computer contact…though often it is sluggish with our dial-up system.
In closing, we are mindful again that this is the season for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions. It would take pages to explain the many ways this Offering is used for so many ministries and needs of missionaries on the field. We are blessed on the field by this Offering and we ask again that you pray about what God would have you give through the Offering to support over 5,000+ international missionaries. We give hundreds of dollars of gifts to others and forget the ONE whose birthday we are really celebrating. The Offering is a tangible way to give unto Him that His kingdom might be enlarged through His work in the lives of these missionaries.
Yes, yes we are missing sweet Isaac and the pictures of him grow dearer. It is not so much that it is Christmas that makes us miss him, but just that we want to love and squeeze on him. He looks like a ball of love. And we also miss Jason and Janet/Timothy. We are so proud of them and the love we share and are grateful for computer contact…though often it is sluggish with our dial-up system.
In closing, we are mindful again that this is the season for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions. It would take pages to explain the many ways this Offering is used for so many ministries and needs of missionaries on the field. We are blessed on the field by this Offering and we ask again that you pray about what God would have you give through the Offering to support over 5,000+ international missionaries. We give hundreds of dollars of gifts to others and forget the ONE whose birthday we are really celebrating. The Offering is a tangible way to give unto Him that His kingdom might be enlarged through His work in the lives of these missionaries.
With our love to each of you and our gratitude for your love for us.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
DANNY AND CLAUDIA
“Thanks be to God for His indescribable GIFT, The Lord Jesus Christ.”
II Cor. 9:15
posted by Danny and Claudia at 11:47 AM
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