January 28 2009 s.jpg)
We have now been in Kampala for two weeks and it already seems like we have been here much longer – several times I have had to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming! We arrived at the airport and were greeted with flowers and hugs by all the elders and their wives. They are so excited to have us here and we are truly humbled by their warmth and openness.
Royce and Elizabeth Iverson have so graciously hosted us in their home for these two weeks while we looked for an apartment to rent. Their children, Sophia, Dominique and Elijah have kept us entertained. Many of you contributed to us bringing a video projector with us and it has been a highlight treat for the children as they play tennis and bowling. Actually, we have already had one leadership meeting where the competition on the Wii video game got pretty intense. Thank you to each one who contributed to this.
On a personal level, we are making progress at getting settled. One of the businessmen in the church had a vehicle which he is renting to us for a few weeks. We are then going to try to buy a small vehicle. Eventually we need to get a 4-wheel drive so we can negotiate all the side roads in the cityJ. We are inquiring about getting one imported from Japan. You can pray that we will find a really good, low-mileage car and for favor to get it into the country without huge import taxes.
We have found a new two-bedroom apartment in a good area near the church –
actually near the Iversons as well. The area is called Lubowa. The land-owner has furnished it with the bare essentials of furniture (fridge, stove, bed, table and chairs and sofa and book case). We are hoping to move this weekend if everything gets finished. We will then need to go shopping to get all the other basic household things. We are amazed at how expensive things are but truly amazed at the fact that you can get just about anything here now. That is so different than when we lived here in the 70’s.
We have also discovered that portable Wi-fi internet devices are available here for our laptops. We hope to get on-line this week as well. Hopefully that will allow us to keep connected by email with everyone on a more regular basis.
Much of our time in these two weeks has been spent getting up-dated on the present status of each minis.jpg)
stry at the church. We have spent time with several of the elders individually as well as had four extended elder’s meetings. There is so much excitement and anticipation for what God is about to do. There is much work to be done. Many areas of the church have been somewhat in embryonic state for a long time and they need much time and development. We are asking God for wisdom and discernment as we proceed. There are many committed, dedicated young people who just need to be equipped and trained.
Weekend services have been good. Bob and I are sharing the preaching for a 6 week series on The Open Door 2009. Response has been very positive and I believe people are buying in to the vision that it is a new day and we can believe for God’s favor. Last Sunday, 5 people got saved. There are visitors in every service so I believe that if we can do a better job of assimilation, we will grow.
There has been much discussion in the last few years of the need to change the name of the church. RUN is an acronym for Reaching Unto Nations and was certainly the vision of the church as it was birthed. However leadership here has felt that it didn’t have meaning to the city or our communities and so should be changed. The elders and leaders have spent time coming up with all the possible names. Last Saturday at our elder’s meeting, we landed on a name unanimously. We all felt really good about it and decided we would present it to the church at the end of our 40-day fast, on February 27. Well, on Sunday morning, one of the members of the worship team had a very simple and brief prophetic word. He said, “The Lord is here and he is giving this church a new name. You have been known as…..and now you will be known as……” The word he used is exactly what we had landed on as the name. The elders all exchanged smiles of gratefulness to the Lord. It was a wonderful confirmation that God is at work. I am sorry that I can’t share the name with you yet, we don’t want it to “get out” until the church hears it first!
We have now been in Kampala for two weeks and it already seems like we have been here much longer – several times I have had to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming! We arrived at the airport and were greeted with flowers and hugs by all the elders and their wives. They are so excited to have us here and we are truly humbled by their warmth and openness.
Royce and Elizabeth Iverson have so graciously hosted us in their home for these two weeks while we looked for an apartment to rent. Their children, Sophia, Dominique and Elijah have kept us entertained. Many of you contributed to us bringing a video projector with us and it has been a highlight treat for the children as they play tennis and bowling. Actually, we have already had one leadership meeting where the competition on the Wii video game got pretty intense. Thank you to each one who contributed to this.
On a personal level, we are making progress at getting settled. One of the businessmen in the church had a vehicle which he is renting to us for a few weeks. We are then going to try to buy a small vehicle. Eventually we need to get a 4-wheel drive so we can negotiate all the side roads in the cityJ. We are inquiring about getting one imported from Japan. You can pray that we will find a really good, low-mileage car and for favor to get it into the country without huge import taxes.
We have found a new two-bedroom apartment in a good area near the church –
actually near the Iversons as well. The area is called Lubowa. The land-owner has furnished it with the bare essentials of furniture (fridge, stove, bed, table and chairs and sofa and book case). We are hoping to move this weekend if everything gets finished. We will then need to go shopping to get all the other basic household things. We are amazed at how expensive things are but truly amazed at the fact that you can get just about anything here now. That is so different than when we lived here in the 70’s.We have also discovered that portable Wi-fi internet devices are available here for our laptops. We hope to get on-line this week as well. Hopefully that will allow us to keep connected by email with everyone on a more regular basis.
Much of our time in these two weeks has been spent getting up-dated on the present status of each mini
s.jpg)
stry at the church. We have spent time with several of the elders individually as well as had four extended elder’s meetings. There is so much excitement and anticipation for what God is about to do. There is much work to be done. Many areas of the church have been somewhat in embryonic state for a long time and they need much time and development. We are asking God for wisdom and discernment as we proceed. There are many committed, dedicated young people who just need to be equipped and trained.Weekend services have been good. Bob and I are sharing the preaching for a 6 week series on The Open Door 2009. Response has been very positive and I believe people are buying in to the vision that it is a new day and we can believe for God’s favor. Last Sunday, 5 people got saved. There are visitors in every service so I believe that if we can do a better job of assimilation, we will grow.
There has been much discussion in the last few years of the need to change the name of the church. RUN is an acronym for Reaching Unto Nations and was certainly the vision of the church as it was birthed. However leadership here has felt that it didn’t have meaning to the city or our communities and so should be changed. The elders and leaders have spent time coming up with all the possible names. Last Saturday at our elder’s meeting, we landed on a name unanimously. We all felt really good about it and decided we would present it to the church at the end of our 40-day fast, on February 27. Well, on Sunday morning, one of the members of the worship team had a very simple and brief prophetic word. He said, “The Lord is here and he is giving this church a new name. You have been known as…..and now you will be known as……” The word he used is exactly what we had landed on as the name. The elders all exchanged smiles of gratefulness to the Lord. It was a wonderful confirmation that God is at work. I am sorry that I can’t share the name with you yet, we don’t want it to “get out” until the church hears it first!
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