Jeannie - Loving Jesus and Loving Others

He has done GREAT things!

2008-06-20T16:30:00.006+03:00

Praise Jesus forever for He has done GREAT things!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers over the last two weeks! I have really sensed you all carrying me to Jesus and WOW He has done amazing things! Thank you so much for praying for the abstinence talks in some of the secondary schools (high schools) here in Arua. Jesus has really helped me to communicate His message of purity and holiness to these students! I am humbled and in awe of how He has worked and how He has used me in these days! The first school I talked with over 250 girls and it was a Muslim school! So praise Jesus for open doors!! In the second school I met with about 50 boys and girls who were leaders of some of the clubs in the school that address the topic of sex education. It was great and we had about 45 minutes of questions and answers (talk about having to think on your toes, but Jesus helped me!), but their questions were great and you could really sense that they wanted to learn and grow. I attended my last school today and Jesus’ presence showed up in a mighty way as I sat under a tree with 8 girls and shared Jesus’ plan for our life in purity and holiness. Words cannot describe all that happened under the tree, but I can tell you that it was so sweet and real! Please pray for the girls and boys of Arua and Uganda that they would truly be a pure generation and seek to live a life of holiness!

Also thank you so much for praying for my time in Nebbi! It was great to be back with the Pastors in Nebbi and to fellowship with them! They truly are men and women who love Jesus and seek to spread the Good News to the people of Uganda! Jesus really helped all of us in our training and we could sense His presence guiding us! So thank you for covering us in prayer!

This has been a great week, but it has also been sad as it is my last week in Arua. It is hard to believe that my time here in Arua is already gone! On Monday we (the Arua Team) will travel down to Kampala for a conference on Community Health. I am very much looking forward to the conference, especially after these abstinence talks! Then after the conference I will stay in Kampala a few more days before flying back to Georgia on the 2nd of July (I will actually not arrive until the 3rd though). Please pray for me as I say my final good-byes (for now) and process all that He has done in these last weeks! Once again thank you SO much for all your prayers! I am forever grateful for them!!

Back in Arua

2008-06-08T13:55:00.007+03:00

Thank you so much for all of you who have been praying for me and for my time here in Uganda! I cannot even begin to tell you what a blessing it has been to return back to the people and place I love so much! In a lot of ways it does not even seem like I have left as I have been able to pick up friendships right where I left them! A huge blessing in coming back this time is to have Billy, Joanna, and Elsie Jayne back in Arua! They returned to Arua in January after a few months home for a family emergency and to deliver beautiful Elsie Jayne! It has been a huge privilege to work and serve alongside two amazing couples (The Rinehimer’s and Coppedge’s) and to have all the A-team back in place!!

The weeks back have been full as since a few days after my return we have hosted a team of nine and then this last week we had some more visitors from America. An additional blessing is that my brother, John, was the leader of the first team so it was a blessing once again to serve with him here in Arua. John and his team have spent the last week in Kampala serving and are flying back to America tonight. Please be in prayer for their safety as they travel. Also on the team with my brother were Erica Rinehimer’s brother and sister. It really was like have a family reunion here in Arua! We are so thankful for the time that we had with our families and with the visitors from America! Jesus used them in so many ways to impact His kingdom so thank you for praying for them!

A main part of my ministry here in Arua is children’s ministry. Four days a week I am involved with kid’s clubs in three different areas. Two days a week I work with the children from Uganda Christian University (UCU), singing songs, telling bible stories, dramas, memory verse, and games. A lot of the children at UCU are the same children I worked with last year when I was here so it is fun to watch them grow both physically and spiritually. The other two days of kid’s club I work with children in our neighborhood. Saturday morning is especially one of my favorite days as we have kid’s club in our front yard. We have a great time and it really is amazing how it has opened doors with our neighbors. Please continue to pray for all the children’s little hearts that they would come to know the love of Christ in a personal way!

Another ministry I have been involved with is a weekly bible study with Ugandan girls. I have loved being able to live life with these girls and enjoy our time together each week. The first week I attended I shared with them my testimony and how Jesus had changed my life. Pamela, the young lady on the right, in the picture after some conversation prayed to accept Christ as her personal Lord and Savior! PRAISE JESUS!!! She came back the next week so excited to tell me how Jesus had helped her forgive someone who had hurt her and that the bitterness was gone! Please pray for Pamela and for the other girls as they continue to grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ!!

Many of you have also asked about Dr. Stella who is one of the Minister’s of Agriculture here in Arua. I worked very closely with Dr. Stella when I was here last year and she has become one of my closest Ugandan friends. She is doing very well and just six weeks ago delivered beautiful baby Grace. I have been able to meet with her once a week for bible study. Please continue to pray for Dr. Stella and baby Grace!

Some other exciting news that you can be praying for in the upcoming weeks is that I met with Raymond, who is the school inspector for the Arua district, and he is hoping to get me into three or four high schools. The purpose of the visits into the schools is to meet with the teachers who attended the sex education training and evaluate the curriculum and then to hold an assembly for the entire student body and talk about Abstinence. I am so excited about this opportunity and at the same time humble at the thought of being able to speak into these young people’s lives. I am not sure of the exact dates yet, but I would covet your prayers for these times and God’s spirit to move among the young people of Arua!

Another upcoming event is this weekend we will be traveling down to Nebbi for another Pastor’s Training session. I am so excited to be with the pastor’s once again!! They are wonderful men who are full of the fruits of the spirit! John, Billy, and I will be teaching this weekend and we are always so grateful for your prayers! This last weekend Billy, Joanna, and I had the priviledge of training with John Oneck one head pastor from Sudan. It went amazing and we could feel the Holy Spirit presence with us the whole weekend! Jesus really is moving here in Northern Uganda and in Sudan and we are so thankful for all of you who are carrying us and these places in your hearts and prayers!

Handing Over

2007-12-14T17:11:00.000+03:00

It is hard to believe that it is already time to head back to America! Today is my last day in Arua as I fly down to Kampala early tomorrow morning. But Praise God forever for the way He has worked during my time here! There is SO much to praise Him for that words cannot even begin to describe the praise that is in my heart! As I look back over my time here I can see how God's hand was guiding me every day - with every conversation, every meeting, in absolutely everything!

Thank you all so much for praying for my last week here! I have felt your prayers and seen them answered!! One of the most precious moments of my life happened yesterday at Kid's Club. Every week we go to Uganda Christian University to play with the kids, teach them Bible stories, and just love on them. Yesterday I was sharing the story of Jesus birth and how He is the best gift of all. At the end I asked if anyone wanted to receive the gift of Jesus. A few of them raised their hands! Along with the translator we pulled them aside and talked with them further about what it means to give their life to Jesus. Then about six or seven of them prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior!!! Praise Him forever!! It was a beautiful moment to hear the prayers of these little ones as they received Jesus!! (Some of them had already prayed to receive Christ before, but some it seemed like it was for the first time. The great thing is that they want to know Jesus more and have a heart for Him!!) Thank you, thank you for all the prayers you have been praying for these precious little ones! Also one of the little girls Alice, who Erica Rinehimer has been helping and loving on, who has been saddest child at Kid's Club smiled a few times during Kid's Club! It might not seem significant, but it was a HUGE blessing to see her smile!!! She also waved good-bye to us for the first time!! It was such a precious moment to see her smile and wave. Truly Love does make a difference!

The sex education curriculum has fully been handed into the hands of the Public Health Director and the Inspector of School of Arua. I have met with them three times since the training session and we have come up with a program for accountability with the teachers and future workshops that they will be leading. These two men are Christians and have a burden for making sure that the students of Arua are learning God's plan for sex and marriage! It has been a huge blessing to be able to have worked along side these men these last weeks and completely trust them to continue on the program! They are even starting to talk about working on a curriculum that they can teach to the younger children - please continue to pray for Robert and Raymond as they take over the training and curriculum.

Also you will be pleased to know that semen for the cows in Uleppi has successfully arrived!! With the semen here I have turned the breeding program over to the Director of Veterinary Offices of Arua and the Chief of Uleppi. I met with the Chief of Uleppi this week and he was proud to tell me that they have been keeping records since my visit and that they feel so much more knowledgeable about their herd. He kept thanking me over and over for helping his people and how they were so blessed to not only here the Word of God when we come, but also to have improvements to their herd that will improve their quality of living. Thank you so much for praying for the people of Uleppi and for your sacrificial giving to make this possible!!

Thank you for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement for my time here. I truly felt you carrying me in your prayers everyday!! I know that what happened here on the ground was in large part only possible because of all of your prayers for the ministry here! Please continue to pray for John and Erica Rinehimer as they will be here carrying the load of ministry alone until the Coppedge's are able to return. Also please continue to lift the Coppedge's up in prayer - for Billy's daddy and for continued health for Joanna and Elsie Jayne. As for me I will be arriving back in Georgia on Tuesday, December 18th and am looking forward to sharing in person what God has been doing in my life. Please be in prayer these next days for traveling mercy and for continued processing of my time here! Once again thank you for all of your prayers!!! Much love from Uganda!!

(Even though I will not be writing from Africa do expect a few more blogs on updates

as I continue to process my time here!)

Gulu Report Part 3

2007-12-14T16:57:00.000+03:00

During our time in Gulu we had the great privilege of touring two organizations that are making a powerful difference in the lives of the children in northern Uganda – “Invisible Children” and “HEALS.” We were all very interested in visiting the Invisible Children office because it was how each of us had first learned in depth about the war in northern Uganda. It was amazing to see first hand the programs they are involved with that are making a difference in the lives of the children. We visited Invisible Children first thing in the morning. The beginning of a long day of Jesus breaking my heart! It was amazing to hear all that they are doing to not only raise awareness in America, but also on the ground working among the people of Uganda. Many of you are familiar with the movie Invisible Children and even probably the bracelet campaign. The bracelet campaign is where they provide about 140 Acholi with jobs making bracelets, so that they can have income for their families. The bracelets are then sold in the US with short films telling different stories of children affected by the war. (In the picture the boy with the Invisible Children t-shirt on is Emmy. You can learn more about his story from the bracelet video intitled Emmy.) Also in just 2 years, “Invisible Children” have started an education program, where they are sponsoring about 550 children to go to school. They also give each child a mentor, all of which have experienced the war themselves and all of which are Christian, so the children have someone to open up to, to be held accountable to, to be challenged by, to be influenced by, and to be loved by. I cannot say enough great things about what they are doing for the children of northern Uganda! (For more information visit http://www.invisiblechildren.com/) Many of you probably are wondering why they are called Invisible. Here is a quote from the movie;

“Invisible because they roam distant battlefields, away from public scrutiny. Invisible because no records are kept of their numbers or age. Invisible because their own armies deny they exist.” ~ “Invisible Children Rough Cut Video”

Then at the end of an already emotional day we found ourselves sitting in on a play therapy session lead by the organization “HEALS” (Health, Education, Art, Literacy, and Sports). “HEALS” is an organization started by a Ugandan woman named Jolly (who is also the Country Coordinator for “Invisible Children”) who is passionate about helping her people prosper despite the war around them. HEALS is devoted to helping children heal the scars and emotional wounds caused by the war in Northern Uganda. This healing takes place by teaching them life skills as well as giving them opportunities to have fun together, also called play therapy. Some of the classes that are offered are photography, sports, dancing (both hip hop and traditional), literacy, music, etc. We happened to attend on Wednesday which is the day they practice traditional dances. It was amazing to see the demeanor of the children change when they started dancing. Their faces were full of joy and laughter! It was as if for a few moments they were just children -not former child soldiers, not orphans, not the rape victim, but just children. Please continue to pray for Jolly and the volunteers at both “HEALS” and “Invisible Children” as they counsel and work with these children everyday. Also, please continue to pray for us as WGM Uganda to b sensitive to God’s leading and the prospects of in the future maybe having training centers in Gulu.

The following excerpt is from a journal I wrote about my time watching a play therapy session at HEALS.

I sit and look around and my heart cannot take it all in. All these kids – looking much like the kids back home – yet they come from two different worlds. I try to imagine what all these precious boys and girls have been through, what all they have done, what’s been done to them – but I cannot. I think of James (my little brother) who is about the same age as these boys – it hits a little to close to home. My whole body quivers as I try to think about their lives. The images of their life that flash through my mind are too much. I know everyone in this room has been affected by the war – some were child soldiers forced to kill, others still are orphans left all alone by the LRA, some of whom had witnessed the death of close friends and families, seen their villages burned to the ground, and then I come to the girls…abducted, forced to be wives at young ages and raped countless times. I want to cry, I want to leave, but I want stay.

As I look around the room at their faces and think of their stories I feel so helpless! In fact ever since arriving in Gulu I have felt helpless. What could I possibly give to make things better? Everything in me wants to “fix” the situation – it’s just not that easy. To be honest in my heart it seems so trite just to say we “just need to give them Jesus.” (I am sorry that was just a real honest moment of how I felt) These people are dying from lack of food, dying from lack of medical care, and living with hurts so deep I do not even begin to know where to start to help, but then if we just tell them about Jesus it will all be okay. My heart was wrestling with this issue as I sat in the midst of all these children listening to the teacher talk with them in a counseling session about how they need to take pride in who they are as Acholi people and as Ugandans. As a prayed in that room I felt as if Jesus was saying, “Jeannie just rest and take pride in who you are in me – you are My Child.” It was at that moment I got it – truly the only thing to offer is Christ! It was not about who I am as Jeannie being able to help these people because alone as Jeannie I have nothing to give. The only thing (and the best thing) I have to offer is Christ living and working through me. He reminded me how He is a Father to the fatherless, Help for the helpless, and Hope for the hopeless.

Truly these people do need so much physically and even as I type this people are dying today from lack of physical needs, but without Christ they are lost forever! That fact stirs up everything in me! To have seen how much these people are suffering here on earth and then to think that their eternity would be suffering too – a life and death without Christ is more horrible to think about then all that they have been through here on earth. What He is asking me, what He is asking you, a generation of believers, is will we be willing to live out our lives in such a way that we are completely surrendered to His will and His purposes. So that through our surrendered lives His Love can be seen in our actions and heard in our words to touch the lost and hurting people of the world. So that it will be His Love seen through our giving them food, His Love felt as we hug them, His Love seen through our smiles, His Love heard through our prayers… Although my heart continues to break everyday for the Acholi people and the people of northern Uganda I can trust in the fact that He will bring about His purposes, deliverance, and salvation for the Acholi people and for the people groups around the world who have never heard of Him.

Gulu Report Part 2

2007-12-09T18:05:00.000+03:00

In my last blog entry I mention a boy named Yonah who is by far the saddest kid I have ever met. I refer to his demeanor as “dead man walking.” Yes physically he is alive, but his spirit and soul are dead. The sad thing is that you can describe countless numbers of people in northern Uganda the same way – “dead men/women walking." The war, hardships, and suffering have killed their spirits. All they once knew has been stripped away from them and what is left is only the outer body of an entire people group in desperate need of the Savior to restore their souls!

All day long the people literally sit in these IDP camps unable to go to work, farm, or even go to school. So they sit and wait and wait and wait. They are not just sitting because they want to, but since moving to the IDP camps they have been unable to leave so they have lost their jobs, lost the land to farm, and with no job for income they are unable to send their children to school. The idleness of the people has caused major problems within the camps. Many have turned to alcohol to escape the reality in which they live. There is also a large amount of sexual activity among the youth and adults within the camps. Suicide is unfortunately also on the rise within. Some would say that for them it is better to die then to continue to live like they are living with the effects of the war all around them. I cannot imagine!

The attitudes and behavior of the children in these camps are also unlike anything I have ever seen. Not only are they some of the saddest kids I have seen (although a large number of them were all smiles when we arrived), but they are some of the most violent kids I have ever been around. Then again, violence is what they know. Their whole life they have been living in the middle of a war zone with children being abducted and taught to kill, soldiers surrounding their camps at night with guns to protect them, and some nights the only lullaby they heard was the firing of guns in the distance – this is their world. At one point I had to stop a four year old from through big rocks at his friend who had made him made. This was only one of several violent outbursts in the kids that we witnessed just in the short time we were in the camps.

More and more as I process our time in Gulu I keep going back to the reality that the only hope, love, and peace we have in this world is in Christ. He and He alone is the difference between being “alive” and being a “dead man walking” in the midst of the wars that surrounds us either literally like in northern Uganda or figuratively in our hearts in our “safe” little America. As we are in the middle of the holiday season I am reminded of what the angel said to the shepherds that first Christmas night, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” Luke 2:10 What the world needs now more than anything is an army of people who are “alive” who are willing to “walk among the dead” and bring the message of hope, love and peace to people both next door and across the world who are in desperate need of the Good News of Christ.

Gulu Report Part 1

2007-12-07T16:19:00.000+03:00

For the last twenty two years the Acholi people have been caught in the middle of a war. You can see the effects of the war as you drive around and in the faces of the Acholi people. Ten years ago thousands of people were given 48 hours to move from their villages to IDP (internally displaced people) camps for protection from the LRA. I cannot even imagine only having 48 hours to pack up all of your belongings and move to camp where they have lived for years and with no idea of when they will return home. The houses in these camps are so close together that a lot of times it is impossible to pass between them. These camps although they provide safety from the rebels are more like prison for the people. At night the UPF (Uganda People’s Force) surrounds the camp to fight off the LRA from abducting the children. In some camps people have not gone outside of the camp for years….it’s their world, the only safe place they know.

The LRA is not the only worry of the Acholi people in these IDP camps, but disease, malnutrition, and fires take thousands of lives each year. As we were talking to one of the men he said that if there were to be a serious out break of a disease in the camps it would completely wipe out the entire Acholi people group. After visiting an IDP camp I understood what he meant. With the people living in close quarters and without proper sanitation and hygiene it would not take much for the disease to sweep through camp before anyone could receive help. Malnutrition is also a huge problem in the camps. The people receive food from the World Food Program, but it is at the bare minimum that is needed to survive. Now however the aide programs are trying to encourage people to move back home since there is “relative” peace in the area they have started reducing the amount of food given to the people. It’s hard to say, but our dogs back home eat better and more food then most of these people. One statistic that I heard was that each week 1,000 people die in these IDP camps from inhumane living conditions.

While it is becoming safer for the people to return home many fear that until Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, is caught the war will continue in some way. Also in many of the cases there is no village for them to return home to. When the rebels came through the land they would torch villages and burn them to the ground. Any remains of the villages have long been overtaken by weeds and the “bush” so there is no village or home to return to. The LRA also planted over 3,000 land mines all over northern Uganda of which only 300 landmines have been found. Everywhere you go you see signs saying, “be careful were you step and do not touch anything that is unfamiliar.” With 2,700 landmines still at large the people fear returning to their villages. As if all this were not bad enough fires kill thousands of people each year in the camps. Since the houses are so close together and their roofs are made out of grass – when one house catches on fire it spreads like a wildfire. In one IDP camp 5,000 people died in one fire. Words and pictures cannot adequately describe the devastation and hopelessness of the people of Northern Uganda.

Meet Yonah a precious little boy around the age of 5. He is by far the saddest kid I have ever met. Yonah never smiled the entire time we were at the IDP camp. Most of the other children would smile and play with us, but not Yonah. As I looked into his eyes there was a saddness I had never seen before. The only life he knew was hardship and suffering. I asked the preacher we were working with what Yonah's story was, but Yonah would not talk. He just stood there. The only way I can describe him is "dead man walking." There was nothing alive in him other then the fact that he was breathing. I cannot imagine what he has seen with his little eyes and what his little body has endured. I wanted so much to take him home with me!! As I wrapped my arms around him I just kept telling him how special he was and how much Jesus loved him. I know that he cannot understand English, but I do know that Jesus is speaking those same words straight to his heart! This is just one story of countless other little children. Please continue to pray for the Acholi people of Northern Uganda - for peace, for safety, and for salvation of souls!

Pictures Are Worth A Thousand Words

2007-12-06T19:15:00.000+03:00

Here is just a snapshot of what we saw in Gulu, Uganda. The above pictures are of IDP camps (internally displaced people) and of children in the camps. There are thousands of people living in these camps - in the first picture of an IDP camp there are 10,000 people living there and in the second IDP camp over 30,000 Ugandan's call this place "home" now. I know many of you have been praying and are anxious to hear about our trip and see pictures.... please know that a more in depth report will be coming soon, but honestly my heart, eyes, and mind need time to process these last few days! Thank you so much for praying and please continue to pray for all the people of Northern Uganda!!

Upcoming Trip to Gulu

2007-12-03T18:24:00.000+03:00

Please be in prayer for us (John and Erica Rinehimer, our New Zealand friend Becky, and myself) as we travel to Gulu tomorrow morning. This will be a survey trip for us - meeting with various NGO's and assessing the needs in Gulu and what other organizations there are doing. We will meet with the Country Director of Invisible Children as well as do some play therapy with some of the children. We are super excited about this opportunity, as Gulu has been on our hearts from some time! We know that it will be a hard couple of days and I am not sure our eyes and hearts are prepared to see the effects of war and hear more in depth some of these children's stories! Please join us in praying for these days in Gulu that God would order our steps and our conversations! Also that He would move in our hearts and that we truly would never be the same from what He wants to teach us from this time in Gulu. Thank you so much for your prayers and be sure to check on Friday for an update and pictures!

P.S. Gulu is a safe place now, but we would greatly appreciate your prayers for safety and protection too!

Uleppi

2007-12-03T17:55:00.001+03:00

Thank you all soooo much for praying for our trip to Uleppi! We had a real sweet time with the people as well as ironed out the details for breeding some of their cattle in the near future. When we (Erica Rinehimer, Dr. Stella -agriculture director of Arua, and me) arrived we first had a meeting with the sub-county chief and about 10 of the cattle owners. The way they have arranged their herd is that everyone contributes and buys a few cows. Then as needs arise in the community they can sell cows to provide money for sicknesses, funerals, school fees, etc. It really is a brillant system that they have come up with and it not only works, but benefits the entire community. I will not bore you with all the "cow talk" but in out meeting we discussed how to keep accurate records, how to determine when to breed the cows, and how to invest these cows for the future among other things. We then moved to the pasture they had set up for the cows they planned to breed. Together we assesed the cows to determine which sperm to select for insemination. They have done a real good job picking out the cows to breed and I was impressed at the care they had taken of these animals!

After working with the cows we moved to the church to meet with some of the congregation. Thankfully I had come prepared to share and I got the chance to preach my first sermon in the village. I guess it was more of a sermonette, but I preached on the "Power of a Praying Village". I am definitely not a preacher, but Jesus really showed up and helped me!! Thank you so much for all of you who were praying!! Truly I know that all that is taking place here is a large part because of all of your prayers!! Please continue to pray for the village of Uleppi that it would become a beakon of Light for the surrounding villages and for all of Uganda!

Answered Prayers!

2007-11-28T18:33:00.000+03:00

Words are not enough to express how grateful I am for your prayers today!! I felt your prayers carrying me from the moment I woke up!! The workshop went better then I had ever imagined and I know it was because so many of you were praying!! We only had about twenty people show up, but I know with out a shadow of a doubt that those were the right twenty people to be there today! Although there was only twenty people we did have representatives from 12 of the 15 schools in Arua, including the Muslim schools. Our discussion was amazing, they asked great questions, and really grasped the concept of teaching abstinence! All day long I could see how Jesus was moving and helping us!! During the part of talking about God's plan for sex I was able to walk through the plan of salvation and redemption. Would you join me in continuning to pray for these teachers as not only God works in their hearts, but also as they in turn teach this curriculum to their students. After the session one of the female teachers from the Muslim school came up and handed me the sweetest note. Jesus is moving!! Thank you so much for your part in the ministry here! I am so aware of how you have been carrying me these last few days! Thank you, thank you for all your prayers, emails, and support! You have no idea how much they mean to me! Much love from Uganda!

Ministry Updates

2007-11-26T14:46:00.000+03:00

The Nebbie Team

Thank you so much for all of you who have been praying these last couple of weeks for the different ministries we have been involved in! Jesus has helped us so much and has opened so many door for us, for which we are so thankful! Once again we are amazed at what He is doing in Arua and the surrounding areas! Our last pastor's training sessoin in Nebbie went well! My heart was overjoyed to be able to return to Nebbie and to be able to help train the pastors! These men are amazing and to be able to partner with them in ministry is a gift from God! I wish you could see their faces and hear their enthusiasm as we share together during our training times! We are so thankful that God has put us together with these men who are so passionate about spreading His name throughout Uganda! Please continue to pray for the pastor's in Nebbie who are part of the training as the lead their congregations and live out their lives as Christian men within their community!

I would also like to specifically ask for prayer for me this coming up Wednesday, November 28th. This is the day when I will be presenting my sex education curriculum to 45 teachers with representatives from all 15 high schools in Uganda. It is not so much the presenting that makes me nervous, but knowing that I will be presenting to Christians, non-Christians, and Muslims make me nervous, but at the same very excited to see how God is going to work!! The seminar is from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Uganda time which is 12:30 am to 7:30 am EST. I would covet your prayers during these hours! I know that is in the early hours back home, but if God brings this to mind I would be so thankful for your prayers at any time!

A short note on Uleppi - we were unable to make it to Uleppi last week because the day we planned to visit Uleppi the chief was in Arua. I was able to meet up with him during his time in Arua and talk through what the next couple of weeks will look like for me visiting Uleppi. We plan to drive down on Friday to assess their cattle for breeding. They were to chose ten of their best cows for breeding and once we arrive on Friday we can figure out specifically what each cow needs for improvement. Then on Monday we will send the records and information to Entebbe, Uganda to buy the sperm so that it will be avaliable by next Wednesday so that if one where to come in heat we could breed her. We are running short on time, but at least this way if some of them to not come back into heat before I leave at least they will have the supplies in place so that they could have the director of agriculture come and breed the cows. Please also be in prayer for our trip on Friday and for our time with the people of Uleppi!

Also thank you to all of you who were praying for my speaking engagement last night at Heritage International Fellowship. Jesus helped me so much!! So thank you for carrying me last during that time!

Calender:

November 28th - Sex Education Training

November 30th - Uleppi Visit

December 1st - Nebbie Pastor's Training

Thankful Hearts

2007-11-26T13:47:00.001+03:00

Happy Thanksgiving to you all (a little late I know, sorry)!! None the less I hope and pray that everyone had a wonderful time with family and friends and more importantly was reminded of all that God has done for you in this last year! There are not enough words to express how thankful I am for all that God has done in my life this last year! I am continually humbled at what He is doing around me and what He is allowing me to be a part of! I know that even though I am here physically I am being carried by the prayers of you all back home and for that I am forever grateful!! Know that I am so thankful for every prayer that you all pray for me, my teammates, and the ministries we are involved in! Thank you is simply not enough to express are heartfelt thanks to you all, but thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Arua Team on Thanksgiving minus the Coppedges

As for our thanksgiving we (the WGM Arua team) ended up spending Thanksgiving in Kampala with the rest of the WGM missionaries. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed all the normal Thanksgiving foods - turkey, green beans, casseroles galore, pumpkin pie, etc. We are very thankful that we could find everything here in Kampala! It was a little hard since this was my first Thanksgiving away from home, but God was so gracious and really made this a memorable and fun Thanksgiving although I was not with my family! So thank you to all of you who were praying for me and my family during this last week! We truly did feel your prayers and are so grateful for them! Below I have included a few pictures from Thanksgiving, enjoy!

Right: Thanksgiving Day table

Thanksgiving jam session with John and Sam!

God is so Good!

2007-11-15T09:56:00.000+03:00

Praise God forever I am finally back “home” in Arua! Thank you is not enough to express to all of you how grateful I am for all your prayers for health and for my return back to Arua. Although I may never quite understand all the reasons for my return to the states I can look back and see how God was with me every step of the way and guiding my path! He truly is in control and sitting on the throne!!

My first two weeks after arriving in Uganda were filled helping the WGM Kampala team in various aspects. I spent half of my time volunteering at Heritage International School (HIS). HIS is the school that all of our WGM missionary kids attend and where several of our WGM missionaries work. I was able to organize the textbook room, take inventory, and various other miscellaneous other tasks. If I was not working at HIS my time was spent working in the field office organizing files, filing, and other secretarial tasks. While I was in Kampala I was also able to visit several AGC (Africa Gospel Church) Churches. I was once again amazed at all the God is doing around Uganda and around the world! I am very thankful for my time in Kampala and to be able to work beside and partner with WGM Kampala in ministry.

While I enjoyed my time in Kampala my heart rejoices to be back in Arua!! It has been such a blessing to see again the people who I love so dearly! Oh yes and our guards Simon, Dennis, James, and Christopher as well as our house helpers Jane and Jessica send their greetings to you all and said to thank you for letting me return and may God bless you! (Greetings are very important in Uganda – do not worry I gave them greetings from you as well.) The picture to the right is of our gaurds, Marori our dog, and of course James my brother.

Jesus has really helped order my days since I have returned! Knowing that I only have about a month to accomplish what I hoped to do in 6 months is has been a little overwhelming, but Jesus has helped and is constantly showing me how He has gone before me and paved the way. I have been able to contact both Dr. Stella (the dinister of agriculture) and Robert (the director of health) and meet with them both. I honestly do not have words to express to you how God has showed up and worked in those meetings, but wow has He moved!

Many of you have been praying for the village of Uleppi and for the farmers there. Uleppi is a small Christian village about a hour south of Arua that has a small congregation of farmers who have been praying for years for someone to come and help them breed their cows so that they can have a herd that can produce more milk and beef for their families. The amazing thing about when we met with them back in May was even though the wanted help with their herd of cattle more importantly they wanted bible studies and training. God has put such a burden on my heart for this village! After meeting with Dr. Stella we are tentatively (I say tentatively because it is Africa) planning on going to Uleppi next Tuesday with the purpose of not only doing a bible study with them, but also to chose 10 to 15 cattle that are the best for breeding. After Tuesday we can proceed with buying semen from a place in Entebbe, Uganda and using the records they have been keeping may even be breeding cows by the first of December! The enhancement of the cattle in this village will greatly help so many families and at the same time each time we visit they will be brought the Word of God! Praise God forever!! The picture to the left is of the farmers and their families in Uleppi.

As if that were not more then enough to be amazed at God’s working during my meeting today with the director of health we were able to set the date for November 28th for the abstinence based sex education training. On the 28th I will be training 45 teachers with representatives from all 15 secondary schools in Arua – government, private, and Muslim. What a God thing!! Please pray for us as we try to coordinate all the details of putting on an event like this and pray that the teachers will be open and responsive and that most of all God would be glorified in it all!
We are all very busy these days not only with the programs listed above, but also with training pastors. On Friday and Saturday of this week John, Erica, and I will be training pastors both here in Arua and in Nebbie. Pray especially for John and Erica Rinehimer as they will be carrying the bulk of the teachings this weekend. God is doing great things during these training times and we greatly appreciate and covet your prayers for these times!

Thank you for your prayers for all of us here in Arua! I am pleased to announce that there is a new member of our team as many of you have heard – precious little Elsie Jayne Coppedge! Even though they are in America for these days we are so grateful for her safe arrival and cannot wait to have them all back here in Arua!! Please continue to pray for strength, rest, and health for Billy, Joanna, and Elsie and for a continued recovery for Dr. Al Coppedge, Billy’s dad.

Once again thank you for your faithfulness in prayer for all of us! Truly I could not be here with out all of you and your prayers and support! Much love from Arua!

Upcoming Schedule:
November 16th - Meetings with the Director of Health and Director of Agriculture
November 16th - Pastor’s Training with Rev. Jon Oneck
November 17th – Pastor’s Training in Nebbie
November 20th – Trip to Uleppi
November 21st – 27th – Kampala for Thanksgiving
November 25th - I am speaking at Heritage International Fellowship
November 28th – Sex Education Training
December 1st – Pastor’s Training in Nebbie

Back to Africa!

2007-10-25T06:05:00.000+03:00

Praise the Lord I am returning to Uganda!! After three months and four changed tickets I am finally cleared to return to Uganda!! Thank you all so much for all the many prayers you have prayed for me, for my ministry in Uganda, and for my return!! I am forever grateful for all your prayers and for your continued support! I fly out of Atlanta tomorrow (Oct. 25th) and arrive in Uganda on Saturday (Oct. 27th). I will be working in the capital until November 12th then I will return to Arua for the rest of the time. Please continue to pray for safety, health, and the Lord's will to be done in Uganda!

A view of Arua!

2007-09-12T04:59:00.000+03:00

This is a video as you are driving through main street Arua! This is on a slow day since it was going to rain - it usually has a lot more bicycles if you can imagine that!

This is a video of my favorite song that the children sing - it is called Fire, Fire. Warning it will get stuck in your head and you will find yourself singing it throughout the day! Have fun it always brings a smile to my face!

During kid's club we taught the kids ring around the rosie - needless to say they loved it!

We shot this clip while we were on safari. This lioness is pregnant and was about to give birth within the next two weeks. We were literally about 30 ft. from her! It was amazing!!

Prayer Requests

2007-09-12T01:02:00.000+03:00

Many of you have asked for an updated report on my health and plans to return to Uganda. I am sorry it has taken so long for me to update everyone on my health. I am so grateful for all your prayers and support! I cannot express to you all how much it has meant to me to have your prayers! On August 30th I spent seven hours at the infectious disease doctor, Dr. Luu. She is a very good and thorough doctor and I have heard great things about her from other doctors. I still have not heard any results from the tests that she did, but I have another appointment with her on Thursday. I am not exactly sure what all she is testing for, but evidently there are diseases that you can pick up from cattle and slaughter houses, of which I had contact with both of them, as well as many other rare disease from Africa. She is also sending me to a gastro-intenologist to see if there are parasites in my intestines, bowels, or pancreas. I am still running a low grade fever off and on and still have the pain on my upper right side. I would appreciate your continued prayers for guidance and wisdom both for the doctors and for me. Please especially pray for my doctor's appointment on Thursday that Dr. Luu will have some kind of answers and a plan of action to return back to Uganda! I am anxious to get back to Arua! I know that is where God has called me and I do not understand why I am still here, but I do know that I can trust in His timing and rest in His faithfulness! God has taught me so much during my time here that I know He will use when I do return back to Uganda! Once again thank you for all your prayers, encouragement, and support! I am truly blessed to have family and friends like you all!
The video on your left is of the children at Kid's Club singing My God is so Big they love to sing this song and sing it faster each time!

God's Provision

2007-07-05T22:41:00.001+03:00

Praise the Lord forever! God is so good! I must apologize for the long absence in communication! I know that several of you must think I have fallen off the side of the earth since my blogs and email have been so quiet! The last month and a half here in Arua have been a very amazing time seeing God work and also a very difficult and challenging time personally. In the last few weeks we hosted our first short term mission team. They were an amazing team and they helped us kick start our work with children at Uganda Christian University. With the help of the team we hosted a week long vacation bible school, which from what I can tell was the first bible school in all of Arua. We hosted about 200 children which was absolutely amazing! We enjoyed loving on them, learning new songs in the local language, and telling them stories about Jesus. At the end of the week about 90% prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts! It was a beautiful moment and the memories of that week will forever be in my heart! Thank you for praying for those precious children! I know that what happened that week had a lot to do with the prayers of so many people, so thank you, thank you! Since then we have continued to work with the same children two days a week. It has been such a blessing to watch these children grow and learn more about Jesus. During our "quiz" part of each day it is amazing to see how much the children remember from the Bible stories. We are thanking Jesus for the opportunity to come along side these precious little ones and disciple them at such a young age!

Also in the last weeks we have started the beginning training of our first pastor's training center. The center is located in Nebbi, which is a town about a hour and a half south of Arua. We are starting with four pastors and right now we are working through the Africa Gospel Church membership manual. This includes topics such as: Who is God, Sin, Holiness, Temptation, Satan, the Holy Spirit, etc. As you can see these are very easy topics :) We feel that it is important that we work through these topics thoroughly before we officially start training the pastors so that we can be sure that we are on the same page with what we believe and preach. The first training session was in June and you could tell that God was there helping us and them. The next training session is July 14th and we would greatly appreciate your prayers for that day! Billy Coppedge and John and Erica Rinehimer will be teaching those sessions. We are taking turns teaching and training so I will begin teaching in August of which I would appreciate your prayers for that day as well! We are humbled at the doors that God has opened for us to already after only being in Arua six months to have our first pastors training center started! God is so good! Along with the pastors training center in Nebbi we have also made several contacts with potential pastors in Congo and Sudan. Currently we are praying over five pastors and trusting Jesus with His perfect timing to open those doors into those countries! Thank you for joining us in prayer for these wonderful men of God. Their names are: Bokwa, Dino, Stephen, John, and Bennett.

Another huge praise is that in the last day we have had our sex education curriculum approved to be taught in all the secondary schools in Arua. Praise Jesus! I have been working on the abstinence based curriculum for the last month and yesterday I met with the head of Public Health and the head of Education to get the approval. It was amazing to see Jesus work in the midst of that meeting. They had told us that we could talk about absinence, but I did not know how much they were going to let us talk about God's plan for sex. I decided to go ahead and include a large section about God's plan for sex and prayed that they would approve it and they did!! Somewhere around mid August I will meet with all the head mistress teachers for the secondary schools in Arua for a day long conference to teach them how to teach the sex education curriculum. We are so excited at the possibility of the doors that this will open into the schools and with the young people of Arua! Please join with us in prayer for the youth of Arua that they would come to know Jesus in a personal way and receive His saving grace! Pray also that I would have wisdom as I work with these teachers to help them know how to teach the curriculum to the students and start the conversation of absinence and God's plan for sex and marriage in a community where this is rarely practiced or known.

I also know that many of you have heard of and have been praying for the little village of Uleppi. Uleppi is a tiny village about a hour south of Arua. I visited Uleppi with the Minister of Agriculture for Arua during a day trip to visit and assess the agriculture of Uleppi. One of the sub villages in Uleppi grabbed my heart and even driving into the village I could feel the presence of God. The farmers in this village had come together to raise their cattle together and form a fellowship. The idea of the fellowship of farmers is to work together; if one person needs money for school fees they will sell a cow and share the money, if a person dies and needs money for the funeral they will sell a cow to help each other. It was amazing to see these farmers who had nothing compared to so many willing to work together and sacrifice in order to help each other. As we talked with the farmers you could feel their love for Jesus as it was evident in the way they lived and their love and generousity for one another. As we talked I learned that they had a huge need for artifical insemination to improve their cattle. They shared how about eight years ago they thought that they were going to be able to start artifically breeding their cattle, but for whatever reason it fell through. The leader said they had been praying ever since for someone to come with the knowledge of artifical insemination and how they truly believed that God had sent me to them as an answer to their prayer. Talk about a humbling experience - wow! The truly amazing thing was what they asked next. Instead of asking for me to come back and breed their cattle they asked if I could come back and teach them about the Bible. Of course they wanted their cows bred, but more importantly they wanted to know the word of God! Praise Jesus! Just yesterday I met again with the minister of agriculture to talk further about the process of going back to the village to begin breeding their cattle and giving them the Word. You can pray with us that Jesus will continue to open the door into this small village to give them the Gospel but also to meet their needs for milk and meat with the improvement of their herd. We are praying that by September we can have the first round of cattle bred for these farmers in Uleppi.

Another huge blessing has been to have my whole family here in Arua for the last week!! It truly has been amazing to get to show them the people and places I love! I have loved watching them interact with the Ugandans and being able to see for their own eyes what has been my home for the last five months. This last week they have been able to minister side by side with me which has been awesome and I would not trade this week for anything! It truly has been a gift from God to have them here!

The hardest thing in having my family here is knowing that I will be returning to America with them when they leave. This is what has been the challenging part of the last two months. Over the last two months I have had malaria twice, a bacteria infection, a kidney infection, a rash that is in the family of measles, and double pneumonia. To the best of the doctors' knowledge they think that my body reacted so badly to the malaria that it wore my system out so much that I could not fight off these other infections. I have now had pneumonia for four weeks and as of the last chest x-ray there was no improvement. After much prayer and conversations with my family and the missionaries here, we all thought that it would be in my best interest to travel back home for a month to seek better medical attention, recover, and return healthy. Jesus opened the door for this as I was able to get the last seat on the plane to fly home with my family on July 7th. I will leave America to return to Uganda on August 9th. We have already been able to schedule some doctor appointments for when I return home so we thank Jesus for that! It has been hard coming to this decision, but I truly feel that this is where Jesus is leading me for this next month! I feel that my time in Uganda is not yet done and we are trusting Jesus for a quick recovery and that I will be able to return strong and healthy to Arua in August. Thank you so much for all of your prayers for my health and for my time in America. It will be quite a transition, but I know that Jesus is leading me home for this month and trust that whatever He wants to teach me through all of this that I will have an open heart to learn.

I will be in Fort Valley for the next month seeing doctors, resting, and recovering. I hope and plan to attend Indian Springs Campmeeting at least for a few days if not for the whole time (depending on my health). While most of my time will be resting I hope that I can connect with many of you all, if not in person, at least through phone. Thank you all so much for partnering with me in ministry here in Arua! I wish you all could see first hand what Jesus is doing in the lives of the Ugandans here! Thank you for trusting me with this ministry and with your support and prayers! I pray that God will continue to pour out His richest blessings on you all.

Precious Children

2007-05-07T14:56:00.000+03:00

Here are some of the precious children out at Uganda Christian University. These are the children we will be working with next week during Holiday Bible School with the team from Indiana Wesleyan University. Please join us in praying for the salvation of these precious souls.

Amazed

2007-05-01T20:14:00.000+03:00

There is no way to adequately put into words the way we have seen God at work in these last days. The words that keep running through my head are "Lord I am amazed by you!" (lyrics to the song Amazed by Desperation Band) but even these words do not seem enough! Thank you to everyone who has been lifting us up in prayer - wow have your prayers been answered!!

As mentioned breifly in my post "prayer requests and praises" a huge praise is that Christopher was released from the hospital last week! After suffering from a stroke, he spent a little shy of a month in the medical ward of the local hospital. It is truly a miracle that he is alive and we give God all the glory for saving his life! He is still in a tremedous amount of pain and still does not have the movement of his arm back, but we are thankful that he is well enough to return home to his family. Would you ever continue praying with us for his complete recovery?

I also breifly mentioned in my last blog post to pray for my meeting with the Director of Agriculture of Arua Municiapal Area. I met with the director, Dr. Stella, last week and God blew me away during the meeting. Not only is Dr. Stella a young, women, vetrinarian, but she also has just been newly appointed to the position of Director of Agriculture. As we talked we were both excited about the way God had placed us together for this time and right off the bat we knew that this was a partnership from God! Since Dr. Stella has just been newly appointed the Municipal Council is still trying to figure out what her job should look like and plan for the next year. Dr. Stella said that since everything is still in the planning stages she was going to write me in as part of the "year long plan" so that from the beginning I would be a part of the agriculture development in Arua. WOW - once again can I say "Lord I am amazed by you!"

Another amazing thing is that she also wants me to travel to all the Arua sub-areas with her to meet local farmers and asses what the agriculture needs are in the Arua district. What a great way to meet people and form relationships with people in every sub-district of Arua - no telling how God can use these relationships! Wait there is more....she also wants me to be involved in artifical insemination (A.I.)! (It's okay you can laugh) One of the things she wants me to do is to inform the local population of the benefits of A.I. and train others to become certified in this area. It really is true that God will use anything to bring people to Himself! Who knows who may come to know Christ because their cow gets pregnant :)

Not only did I have an awesome meeting with the Director of Agriculture, but today Erica and I had another awesome meeting where once again I thought, "Lord I am amazed by you!" Today we met with Rev. Susan who is on the leadership team at St. Phillips, one of the Church of Uganda churches that is well known here in Arua. We had tried to meet with Rev. Susan two weeks ago, but we were unable to connect - now I know why - it's all about God's timing. This last Sunday we went to another Church of Uganda church to celebrate with them as they had their first church service in their new building. The people of this church had been raising money for over 37 years and last Sunday was the first time the church was opened! Wow...talk about dedication and hard work! As we set down for the church service I looked down the row and recognized Rev. Susan. After the service (which lasted 4 hours and that was only part a) we arranged to meet with her today.

Our hope was to pick apart her brain and learn more about the culture and needs of the people. As we talked she offered many insights to the people here that were pretty amazing. Then as we continued she mentioned a need for training Sunday School teachers and for children's ministry training. Erica and I looked at each other as we had both felt a burden to train Sunday School teachers at this particular church and here was Rev. Susan confirming that need. She shared with us that every Sunday there are over 1,000 children that come to Sunday School and only 8 teachers, of which only 1 of the teachers has any kind of training. I cannot even imagine the challenge these teachers face with having to teach so many children. As we shared our vision for training Sunday School teachers, how our purpose was not to take over Sunday School or Children's Ministry, but to equip Ugandans to reach their own people, Rev. Susan's face was filled with joy as she kept saying "this is what we need!" As we continued to talk different church staff members joined our meeting and as we all shared we could sense that this too was a partnership from God! I can only imagine how those 8 teachers can impact the world by reaching out to 1,000 children! Would you ever pray for those teachers and for those precious children!

To God be the Glory great things He has done!

Prayer Requests and Praises!

2007-04-23T20:04:00.000+03:00

Prayer Requests:

Pray for Billy and Joanna Coppedge as they are traveling in Kenya for the next two weeks for holiday and a week long conference.
Pray for the Pastors in Nebbie who we will be working with and for us as we prepare to train and disciple them.

Pray for the Indiana Wesleyan University team as they prepare to come and minister here in Arua – they are a team of ten guys who are RA’s there at IWU. (Pray for us too as this will be our first time hosting a team)

Pray for the children, women, and men at Uganda Christian University.

Pray for John, Erica, and I as we meet and finalize details these next two weeks for the team without Billy and Joanna.

Pray that we will continue to be faithful to what He has called us to and that we will continue to walk in His will daily

Praises:

Christopher our gaurd went home from the hospital today! He has been in the hospital for some three weeks now and he is so glad to be home! His arm is still swollen, but going down every day! Thank you so much for your prayers! Continue to pray for his healing and movement of his arm.
The Director of Agriculture called me today and we have a meeting set up for tomorrow morning!

John Rinehimer met with Pastor John today about possibly opening up a training center in Sudan! We praise Jesus for this contact and we continue to pray for guidance and for open doors in this area!

Open Doors

2007-04-23T19:42:00.001+03:00

(My favorite moment so far in Arua: when these two little girls climbed in our laps and fell asleep in our arms. It was absolutely beautiful and I was reminded how we are to crawl in our Daddy's lap and let Him love us with an everlasting love and sleep in His peace!)

As I reflect back over the last two weeks I am humbled to see and be a part of what God is doing here in Arua. A week ago Friday we made a trip to Nebbie town, which is about a hour and half south of Arua. Through some amazing contacts God had put us in touch with a group of pastors who were interested in our training. Through a series of meetings with them our team explained our purpose, who we are, and what we believe. On last Friday they handed us an official letter saying that they wanted to become part of our training. So praise the Lord we will begin training pastors in June! We are starting with only a handful of pastors (2 or 3) this way we can be sure to disciple them and train them well so that in January tentatively when we add more pastors they can help us train them as well. We are so grateful for this open door that the Lord has given us to begin to train pastors!

(our team minus Erica who is so graciously taking the picture with pastors in Nebbie)

Also this week we had several meetings that were quite incredible. On Friday morning John, Erica, and I met with the Director of Education for Arua. Our hope was that we might be able to help with some of their literacy seminars for children and women since the mayor said that it was a huge need here. However, in learning more about it we found that all of the literacy seminars were done to help the people learn the local language – of which none of us know more then a few words. I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first because we had hoped that these literacy seminars would open some more doors into the community…however God had other plans. As we sat in the director’s office we begin to ask about other departments and directors. I asked about the agriculture director, he smiled and said she works right here, this other desk is hers (there were two desks in his office). It turns out that the director of agriculture is a veterinarian and a woman! I was so excited and immediately I knew why we were supposed to have this meeting with him. She called me earlier today and I meet with her tomorrow! Once again another open door!!

Friday afternoon we had yet another meeting with the Director of Public Health. These meetings are to help see how we can partner with the community as well as let them know who we are as an organization and to get our name out in the community. During our talk the director mentioned a need for people to help with sex education in secondary schools (high schools). I was excited because the need for knowledge and education in this area here is huge. As we talked with the director we learned that as of now they have no curriculum for teaching sex education. So over the next few weeks we are going to work along side him to come up with a curriculum for sex education in the schools. We were very clear that we were Christians and would be teaching abstinence and be presenting the information with a biblical perspective and he was more then ok with it! We are thrilled with once again another open door for our team!

As you can see it has been a busy week and we have so much to praise Jesus for! We have also been busy at work preparing for our first work team from Indiana Wesleyan University that arrives in two and a half weeks. God has opened up a door for them to do a Vacation Bible School out at Ugandan Christian University. The University has been so open and receptive of us and we are praying that this first week of VBS will be a kick off for our further involvement and partnership with them. We are so thankful for the relationship that is being built with this university and for the contacts that Jesus has allowed us to make through them!

Another huge praise is for our guard Christopher. This last week has honestly probably been his hardest week. He has been in a lot of pain and his spirits have been down. It has been hard to watch him be in so much pain and not knowing exactly how to help. Today however when we visited it was like being with another person! His arm, though still swollen, had reduced a considerable amount and his spirits were high!! He was actually up out of bed and walking!! It makes my heart happy to see his improvement!! As of today he was realized from the hospital and is now resting at home!!! What a huge praise!!!

Thank you for being so excited with us as we walk through the doors that God is opening for us as a team! I am sorry this is so long and wordy, but I just had to share with you all that Jesus is doing!! Thank you for your prayers and encouragement – I wish I could let each one of you know how much they mean to us! We have truly felt your prayers and are seeing them answered daily!

Easter in Arua

2007-04-10T17:03:00.000+03:00

Hallelujah He is Risen! There is so much to Praise Jesus for in these last days! Saturday I was finally able to travel back to Arua after ten days in Kampala resting and visiting doctors about my arm. The great news is slowly but surely it is feeling better and I am able to move my fingers now which is a huge blessing! The doctors decided to take the cast off last week because they were afraid that my arm would be to stiff after a month and I might not be able to ever get full movement back. They say it will be about 3 more weeks before I am able to get my arm straight again, but there should be no permanent damage. So thank you, thank you for everyone who has been praying! I have felt covered in prayer and it has been a huge blessing!! Continue to pray as these next weeks as I go through "physical therapy" and try to regain movement in my arm...it is not fun nor easy, but necessary!

Another huge praise is that right after I arrived on Saturday our team had an Easter celebration at our house with our neighbors and house helper's families (pictures above). It was a blast and definitely the highlight of my Easter weekend. It was great to be able to love on our neighbors and share some of our American Easter traditions as well as the wonderful story of Easter! We played games, did a "sweet" hunt for the kids (we decided not to hide eggs since they would never understand why in the world we hid good food or colored it), then we ended our time with the Easter story using Resurrection eggs and with testimonies. Jesus really ordered our time and we were grateful for the opportunity to share Christ with our neighbors!! We are trusting Jesus with the seeds that were planted and for further follow up and questions in the days ahead! Would you mind joining us in prayer as we continue to form relationships with our neighbors and people in town and that we truly could be salt and light to our community!

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support! I wish you all could be here to experience our ministry first hand, but know that you are a part of this ministry and without you all we could not be here! So thank you, thank you! May the power of the Risen Savior be ever present in your lives these days! Know that you all are being lifted up in prayer from Uganda!

Yes it is true

2007-03-31T11:53:00.000+03:00

Sorry it has taken so long for me to write, but yes it is true I did break my arm. More specifically I have a compressed fracture of the radial ball of my elbow and the other bone beside it (sorry I do not remember the technical names). It happened Tuesday morning when my front tire of my bike hit a hole and needless to say I went flying. The options were either to hit my head on a rock or to catch myself with my arm - so I chose the lesser of two evils :) I went first to the hospital there in Arua, which was an adventure in and of itself. God provided a great German doctor there who stayed and helped me through all of the processes of x-rays and casts etc. However since I was still in a lot of pain Dr. Rick Morse who is volunteering here in Uganda for a few months with his wife wanted me to fly back to Kampala for better treatment. I saw an orthopedist on Thursday and I am to be in a cast for a month then I will have to come back to Kampala for what he said would be "intense" physical therapy. So thank you all for your prayers! They have meant so much to me in these last few days.
I also just received word that our gaurd Christopher who had a stroke on Wednesday (I will write more on this later) is sitting up this morning!! What a huge praise!! We have so much to thank Jesus for!!

Finally Home!

2007-03-18T16:37:00.000+03:00

(Here are some pictures from our trip up to Arua. The one on the left is a momma baboon and her baby. We were able to see an elephant, many monkeys, some hippo's, Ugandan cobb, waterbuck and a few more animals on the journey! The middle picture is of my bedroom! Mosquitos are pretty bad in this area so we have to sleep under a mosquito net! Then the picture on the right is a picture of our windshield during a stretch of the road that was super muddy. It also just happened to be pouring down raining for this part which made it even worse.)

I am happy to be writing you for the first time from Arua! It seems a little surreal to finally be home! Thank you for all who were praying on Friday for our safe arrival! After ten hours of traveling we arrived safely in Arua with all of our belongings! I cannot adequately explain in words what it has felt like these last few days as I am finally seeing a two and a half year call of mine finally become a reality. I am understanding in a new way what it means to have peace which transcends all understanding and joy abundantly! I was telling my friends here that I have slept so much better since I arrived in Arua because I am right where God wants me – it is a beautiful feeling! The last two days have been busy with unpacking and getting settled! My house is just perfect! It truly is a special little gift from God and answer to prayer! This morning we had a little church meeting with all of at the Rinehimer’s house. It was a great time of sharing and praying. We spent some time anointing and praying over their house (my house was anointed and prayed over when the Coppedge’s moved up to Arua in January). Then the missionaries who came to help us move in had a special time of anointing and praying over our team. It was a beautiful time and Jesus was so good to meet with us this morning! God has been reminding me all day of just how faithful He is when He calls us to follow Him. I was reminded of when I first felt the call two and a half years ago to work in Arua. I remembered how overwhelming the call seemed and how inadequate I felt – and now to be here, two and a half years later and to look back and see how time and time again God was refining me and preparing me for this time…Wow! He truly is faithful to those who walk with Him!

Once again thank you for all your support and prayers! You all are truly partners in ministry with me here in Uganda - because without your help and love none of this would be possible! So thank you!!

May God remind you today of His faithfulness in your life! "The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all He has made." Psalm 145: 13

Moving on up

2007-03-12T21:09:00.000+03:00

Wow it is hard to believe that the time has flown by and tomorrow is my last day of Swahili classes! I have been blessed to have two wonderful teachers and while I am not fluent by any means I have a basic working knowledge, vocabulary, and understanding which will be helpful as I move up to Arua on Friday! I am so excited to finally be going home to Arua! It is as if I am watching a dream come to life as John and Erica Rinehimer move up on Friday and join Billy and Joanna Coppedge. For so long opening up the Arua field of World Gospel Mission has been on our hearts and it is awesome to think that it is now becoming a reality! Thank you for helping make this dream become a reality! I know that if it were not for all of your prayers and support this would not be possible!! So thank you, thank you!!

Would you ever be in prayer for us as we prepare to leave on Friday? There is so much that needs to take place and time is going quickly! Also if you could pray as we travel on Friday, it takes about 7 hours to get to Arua, so we would love if you would join us in praying for traveling mercies! Thank you so much for your prayers and I cannot wait to write you from my new home and show you pictures of Arua! May God richly bless you this week!!

Soccer Days

2007-03-12T20:44:00.000+03:00

As you can see soccer is a favorite past time of many children and adults here in Uganda! Most people here are avid followers of all the England "Futbol" teams and at any given moment can drop the latest statistics and rankings of all the teams - I think it is quite hilarious. Above are pictures of the some of the Mk's soccer match last week. They love it and get so involved in the games! They beat a great time last week and after the game declared that they were the "best soccer team in all of Uganda!" I loved their spirit and celebrated with them in their win - which I must say was pretty awesome! I have throughly enjoyed getting to hang out and love on all the missionary kids here in Kampala. I am going to miss playing games with them, reading them stories, attending their games and cheering them on, and playing video games with them (even though I always lose) when I move up to Arua at the end of this week! Would you join with me in praying for all these precious children that they would grow into men and women that follow after God's own heart!

MK Day at the Pool

2007-03-12T20:27:00.000+03:00

Saturday afternoon my roomate and I took the MK's (missionary kids) to the pool for some hang out time....and also to give their parents time to relax and go out on dates. We had a blast! I think we "adults" had just as much fun as the kids as you can see from the picture on the right that was taken right after I flipped Ethan Mayo off the float! Hey we big kids need to have fun too! Below are some of the images from our day!

Here the kids enjoyed catching a ball before hitting the water!

The "gang"minus LeeAnn who was driving

Emilee Hopson, myself, Kaleb Hopson, Ethan Mayo

Austin Hopson, and Jordan Mayo

Emilee Hopson is the only missionary kid who is a girl!

She has to put up with eight boys, but she can hold her own!

Kaleb (above) is racing in the float and Austin (below)

looks like he is up to something! Which meant that

pretty soon LeeAnn and I were going to get dunked!

Faces

2007-02-26T22:47:00.000+03:00

Meet Marge. She is an awesome little girl who helps her mom Lucy make necklaces to raise money for the church that her daddy pastors. Her smile will warm anyone's heart!

Meet Austin. He is the son of Lucy and he is a precious little boy. Who can resist this little face?

Finally meet Lucy. She is a local pastor's wife and she makes necklaces, baskets, and many other items to help raise money for thier church. She is a wonderful Christian woman and needless to say I am a frequent customer!

Amazing...

2007-02-26T22:42:00.000+03:00

Here is a picture of my Swahili teacher Sherria, her little daughter Sylvia, and of course you know who the other person is :) I have enjoyed doing life with her this last month and I am so glad that Jesus brought her into my life. We have had a great time studying, laughing, sharing about Christ, and learning about one another's culture. One of my favorite things we have been doing the last few days is listening to Christian music (from America) and I will explain what the songs are talking about. When it came to the song "Amazing Grace" she leaned over and asked me, "Jeannie, what does amazing mean?"

I was taken a little off guard by this question because I had never really stopped to ponder the meaning of amazing. Amazing is just something that we know, we know when something is amazing, we know when something is lame, our culture teaches us. But for her she had no idea what amazing was. I told her to think about the best thing in the whole world. When she had thought about what was the best thing in the world I told her to now apply that feeling to god. She is a Christian and knows all about the Bible and God’s attributes and when she applied the feeling of the best thing in the world to God, she looked at me with a huge smile and said, “that really is amazing! God is amazing!” It was so fun to watch her interact for the first time with the idea that God is amazing! I loved it as well because as I have pondered the last few days on the word amazing, God is showing me more and more how amazing he is! So take time today to listen to a favorite song or read through a favorite bible story and try to read it as if it was the first time. It is amazing the way God can reveal himself in new ways in the familiar! May God remind you of his amazing love for you!

Trash

2007-02-20T17:33:00.001+03:00

A few days ago as we were driving down a street that leads to our house, I was busy talking and not really paying attention when a little child caught my eye. As I looked out the window the image that I saw broke my heart. It is an image that every time I close my eyes I replay it over and over again in my heart and in my head. The scenario is this: a little girl between the ages of 1 and 2 barely strong enough to walk on her own is out in a pile of trash picking through it trying to find food. I see her pick up a piece of a plastic bag and proceed to eat it. Was I really seeing this happen? My heart sunk as I thought about all the children and adults around the world daily die because they do not have enough food. Not only do they not have food, but they don’t know Jesus. I was reminded once again of why I am here, to feed God’s sheep not only physically, but to feed them spiritually with the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

Valentine's Day, Sickness, and Earthquakes

2007-02-20T16:20:00.000+03:00

I am sorry that I have not written in a while, but the last week has been quite eventful! Valentine’s Day was this week and I hope that you all had a wonderful time spending time with the one’s you love! I also pray and hope that you realize and take time to let God remind you of how much He loves you!! This was my first Valentine’s Day in another country. It is pretty amazing that even though I am thousands of miles away from America, Western culture has influenced even Uganda and there were cards and flowers in the stores to be bought! Thank you all so very much for those of you who sent cards! They were wonderful to open and to feel so much love and encouragement! It was especially wonderful because I was…

Sick! I was sick all day on Valentine’s Day! There was a stomach bug going around some of the missionaries and I caught it! It was no fun, but as I lay in bed I got to spend some amazing alone time with Jesus and He was so good to remind me of His great love for me, for my family and friends, and for the people of Uganda! It was beautiful!
So as if there was not enough excitement from Valentine’s Day, being sick, and the business of learning Swahili we had a little extra excitement early this morning.

Around 5:30 this morning (Monday morning) I woke up to my bed shaking and doors swaying. At first I thought, “Wow, this is some dream!” Then I realized that this was no dream and that the bed really was moving! It only lasted a minute and I debated waking up my roommate, but thought surely I was crazy so I opted to stay in bed and play through every scenario! I was glad to hear when my roommate woke up that she too had felt it. We rushed downstairs to check out the internet and there had really been an earthquake in western Uganda. It was not a bad earthquake just enough to scare us all! We still have not received word of damage from that area of Uganda, but we are praying and trusting that God is taking care of them! So thank you for all you prayer warriors who were praying for us last night and are continuously praying for us! You may never know what those prayers are protecting us from! I never thought I would come to Uganda to experience an earthquake…but God is so good to protect us and care for us! Remember that I love you all and I am praying for you all! May Jesus be ever so close to each one of you this week!

Divine Appointments

2007-02-07T16:09:00.000+03:00

It never ceases to amaze me how God brings people into your life! In the last two days I have seen God bring some amazing people into my life. As many of you may know that the Invisible Children of Northern Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who kidnap the children in Northern Uganda are very close to my heart. I have been praying that God will allow a way for me to come in contact with these children. Sunday night after our evening fellowship LeeAnn (my roommate) and I were walking home. Two Ugandan women left before us yet waited for us to catch up to them. We started talking and found out one of the ladies names was Angel* (I changed the name to protect her identity). In our talk I mentioned that I was headed up to Arua, her face filled with excitement as she mentioned that home for her was northern Uganda, however there was sadness in her tone. She then went on to mention that she was from the Acholi tribe and was originally from the Gulu area. I then understood the sadness in her voice. She had my full attention as the Acholi tribe is the tribe that Joseph Kony the leader of the LRA is from and Gulu is the town of all the invisible children.

I knew that this was a divine appointment as just the day before I had been sharing my heart for the LRA and invisible children with some of the missionaries and here was Angel*, a divine appointment in the middle of the road. I asked if I could hear her story. She looked at me and said that it would take to long, but a short version was that she had come to Kampala for medical treatment and that she was very sick. (I didn’t ask but understood that it was probably AIDS she was talking about.) She then proceeded to tell about how her husband and family had been killed by the LRA, but that she had escaped.

My heart broke as she let me see a little into her heart yet I was amazed at how through all she had been through she was still praising Jesus for who He is! It was beautiful! Our conversation did not last long as she had to get home, but I asked if we could talk again next Sunday she said yes and we departed ways. Yet I cannot get that conversation out of my head and heart! Will you join me in praying for the invisible children? Will you pray that Jospeh Kony will not harden his heart any longer and that the love of Christ will penetrate into the deepest parts of his heart and that he will come to know Christ in a real and personal way! Will you pray for Angel* and all the other people who have lost love ones and/or are dealing with the after effects of the war (rape, AIDS, STDs, etc).

It has to do with perspective

2007-02-05T23:02:00.000+03:00

Background information:
Tuesday morning I went out to feed the two dogs that are living at our compound now, Marori who is Billy and Joanna Coppedge’s dog and Puppet who belongs to the Hopson family. While I was feeding the dogs our guard came over to greet me. As we were talking I asked him if he would mind giving the dogs a bath since the Hopson’s were arriving from the States the next day and puppet needed to be clean for her owners. The following conversation then took place which I think is hilarious and many of us have had numerous laughs about it.

Guard: Madam Jean I have wanted to talk to you about giving the dogs a bath.
I know that yesterday you mentioned to me about washing the dogs, but yesterday when I was going to wash the dogs it was too cold and I thought that the dogs might be too cold if I washed them.
Jeannie: It was too cold?
Guard: Yes, Jean. It was too cold and then this morning it is too cold to wash the dogs. If I were to wash the dogs this morning they might freeze to death, but this afternoon if the sun comes out then I will wash them.

Okay I know that it is February and many of you might be thinking that he is right it is too cold to wash the dogs. However, mind you we are almost on top of the equator and it is never too cold in Uganda to wash dogs! The days that he thought were too cold it was somewhere between 80 and 85 degrees which is still swimming weather in Georgia! So like I said at the beginning it is all about perspective.

My First Mail

2007-02-01T15:02:00.000+03:00

Today was an exciting day because I received my first pieces of mail….two letters! I thought receiving real mail in college was amazing, but this beats that by a long shot! It was also great to realize that the letters were only mailed on the 23rd of January so it only took a little over a week to get here…that is pretty amazing for Africa!! So thank you to those who have sent mail it truly is a treat and a treasure!!

I have now completed three days of Swahili! I must admit that learning a language is not one of my gifts and that the first two days were really hard. Today finally seemed like my teacher and I are getting in a groove and both learning how each other works so today was 100% better than the first two days. I think the first two days were overwhelming for both of us, but as we spend more time together things are coming quicker and quicker. We also worked out that starting today she was going to start bringing her newborn to class. I think having her baby there took some of the stress off of her that she had been feeling while she was away from her new baby. The baby was great today only one interruption for a quick feeding, but otherwise the baby slept and we were able to get a lot accomplished! So thank you for all who have been praying for my language studies! I know that what I learn in Swahili will be invaluable to my ministry in Arua! I am not sure if my teacher is a Christian so would you ever join me in praying for her. Pray that through our times that she will feel the love of Christ and if she is not a Christian that she will come to know Christ in a real and personal way and if she is a Christian that she would greatly be encouraged in her faith. I know that God has put her in my life for this month so I want to make the most of ever opportunity. Her name is Sherria and her daughters name is Sylvia. Thank you so much for joining me in prayer for this mother and her precious little baby.

First Day of Swahili!

2007-01-30T20:35:00.000+03:00

Yay! I have successfully completed my first day of Swahili...and I survived!! Thank you for all who were praying and are praying for this time! The first day went really well and I begin to train my ears and tongue to hear and say a new language! God has provided a wonderful teacher and I look forward to see what God brings about in this new found friendship! I now know the greetings and introductions in Swahili and look forward to what tomorrow brings! However I am learning that having a southern accent does not help when trying to learn a new language :)

Pictures

2007-01-30T19:28:00.000+03:00

To the left is Mugeisha our day gaurd! He does a fantastic job of keeping things straight around the house! To the right is my house for the next month. It is really nice and I am living with another short term missionary named LeeAnn.

When SPF 50 is not enough...

2007-01-30T19:27:00.000+03:00

One of the perks about staying in Kampala for the first month of my stay in Uganda is that they have plenty of places to be refreshed from the business of missionary life. One of those places is the Speke Hotel and Resort. Now of course we are on a missionary budget so we do not stay there, but they do have an Olympic size swimming pool and for just a few dollars you can spend the day swimming and lounging around the pool. It is a great retreat spot and a popular spot on the weekends for missionaries and missionary kids.

Well on my first trip to the swimming pool I thought I would be super smart and not get sunburned on my first venture into many hours in the Ugandan sun. I brought SPF 50 that was waterproof, sweat proof, and “sun” proof. I was sooo proud of myself as I coated my body with sunscreen. I was extra generous with the sunscreen as usually I dab it on and go on my marry way. I kept saying to myself the whole time I was lathering up…”you are so smart Jeannie… there is no way you are going to get burned! Good Job!”

Unfortunately the joy of my “smartness” was not long lasted! After only two and a half hours in the pool I came home to look in the mirror and much to my surprise…I looked like a lobster! I am still not quite sure how it happened…how SPF 50 was still not enough….I will just chalk this experience up to a deformed bottle of sunscreen.

However the story gets better. It happened that my roommate here was out of town for the weekend. So all weekend it was just our guard, the dogs, and me. When I came in the house and saw myself in the mirror I had to laugh at myself. I thought it was so funny because I had been so good to put on my sunscreen. I laughed at myself for a good ten minutes. Well our sweet little guard, I guess who was not used to people laughing at themselves when they are alone, yelled up to my window, “Jean…Jean…are you ok?” Since it is his job to make sure that we are safe he wanted to make sure everything was ok, but I would have loved to have known what he was thinking….I am sure it to go something like this “crazy muzungu (which means white person) she is laughing even when no one else is home.”

The missionaries have had a good time laughing about my mishap with the sunscreen and it is my first funny Africa story so I thought everyone should join in the fun! Don’t worry I am sure there will be plenty more to come!

I'm Here!

2007-01-25T21:19:00.000+03:00

I am here in Uganda! Praise Jesus for safety in travel, sleep, and all my bags arriving! Other than being a long two days traveling here was flawless! So thank you, thank you to all who have been praying for my safe arrival! It has been so nice to be back "home." I have truly enjoyed catching up with old missionary friends, meeting new ones, and seeing some Ugandan friends again! It has been fun to get back into the missionary grove and realize every morning when you wake up is going to be an adventure of some sort! I have had a smooth transition time, which has been nice, but Monday I start Swahili classes. I will have a teacher come to my house and we will have one on one sesssions 5 days a week. It will be intensive, but so beneficial for my move up north. Ways you can be praying are for continued transition back into Uganda, Swahili classes, and trying to find my niche here in Kampala before I move to Arua. Also be in prayer for Billy and Joanna Coppedge as they have just moved up to Arua to begin making house and getting Arua set up for the rest of them to join them in about a month. Thanks for all your prayers and hopefully I can post pictures up over the weekend!

Surprise!

2007-01-16T05:56:00.000+03:00

These pictures were taken from a surprise party thrown in my honor by 50 of my closest friends and family! It was an absolutely beautiful time for me to fellowship one last time with friends and have my heart filled with their love and prayers before I head off to Uganda. The night was filled with endless conversations, hugs all around, and a sweet prayer time at the end! I was humbled by the love of my church family and friends again Sunday morning when the entire church congregation gathered around me to lay hand on me and commission me off to Uganda. I truly do mean the entire church family too...after rising from the alter I turned around and saw the entire congregation surrounding the alter and flooding into the aisle to lay hands on me and pray. The entire experience was strength for my soul! Even though I will physically leave for Uganda alone it is truly an amazing thought knowing that I am not on this mission alone, not only do I have my Lord and Savior guiding me, but I have my entire church family prayerfully supporting me, as well and hundreds of family and friends across the USA praying and supporting me! So thank you from the bottom of my heart for all those prayer warriors who are interceding on my behalf. May my life and the lives of those I touch in Uganda never be the same because of your prayers!

2007-01-10T07:24:00.001+03:00

Time now in Uganda

11 days to go....

2007-01-10T00:07:00.000+03:00

11 more days till I move to Uganda!

I cannot wait to be able to spend my days telling little face's like his about the saving grace of Jesus! The excitement is met with many last minute details that fill my day. As of today I am now the proud holder of an International Driver's License....sounds more prestigeous then it really is :) Thank you all once again for all your continued support and prayers! Be sure to check back often for updates throughout my year in Uganda!