About the poor.
I read 1 John 3 tonight (Jan 15, in England) at the house group meeting I went to with Mr. Bob Delehaye. (I decided to say something because I realized that I needed the practice talking in front of adults. If I can’t share in a house meeting how can I lead a Bible study? So I talked.) The “leader” spoke about Mark 12:29 “The first of all commandments is: Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” But he didn’t say anything about what that meant. How that was done. So I looked into 1 John where I knew there was a lot of talk about love. There was a lot I could have read but I started with 3:10 and read through 18. And I told them about what my dad said about loving the brothers. I told them that love acted. It acted in the way that Christ gave his life up for us, the way that a husband is to love his wife, it came out as active love for a neighbor. (I know there are also verses about loving Him and keeping His commandments, but I couldn’t just take the group over since I was a guest. So I just stuck to these verses.) Part of what make these verses so appropriate was verse 17 “But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? … let us not love in word and tongue but in deed and truth.” So I opened up my heart to them, I will and do fight to not be distrustful. I am willing to care for the poor. I still don’t know how best to do it, and I asked the people there to pray for me that I would have wisdom to know where to give and in what manner I can be of help. I think I have a tendency, maybe it comes from my dad’s hard work ethic (maybe it is just the puritan work ethic), to want to make sure that I am not just feeding greed and that I am not making it possible for people not to work. I think part of my cynicism about the poor comes from seeing the ‘poor’ in America. The factory workers, out of a job and not being able to pay their bills, but that’s usually because they didn’t save their money when they had it. Instead they bought the truck they now can’t make payments on. I know, the African people are not like those kind of poor. I will look, and I am willing to appear foolish to the rest of the world in order to give to those in need. But I need to figure out how that is practically done without making the people dependent.

from an email back on Jan 15:
We had a time of singing at the house tonight, a few Christians and a guitar. I really enjoyed it, even the old (some times lame) songs. We were singing “Lord you are more precious then silver… more costly then gold.. more beautiful then diamonds, and nothing I desire compares with you.” As I was singing, I had gotten on my knees, the parable about the pearl of great price came to mind. So when the song was over I read it allowed for everyone. Matt. 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” The verse reminded me of Blum’s comment on dedicated Christians who find themselves always turning away from idols to seek Him. This can be taken to destructive extremes. When the focus is on selling everything and not on the pearl then there gets to be a lot of problems. How do you know when you have sold enough, etc.? The beautiful thing is that believers can: have now, enjoy the beauty of, and will receive later, the pearl. So the selling comes along with the receiving, not before. Remember, that giving to Him is a response to His love

On Barth
Last night, I reworked some of this stuff for the blog. I covered the first and second chapters. The Task and Faith as Trust.
I liked what he had to stay about the Task of Dogmatics. Dogmatics is particularly concerned with the proclamation of the Gospel, which is the central task of the Church. It is done in time, ("it is an articulation in accordance with the state of knowledge at different times"), by people who freely participate in the life of the Church. This articulation will never be done perfectly, it is liable to error because it is thinking and articulation done by men. So, I was wondering why we can't dispense with absolute dogmatics in the same way that we have said we will dispense with Truth. Why do we have to appeal to Apostolic Authority? Why not realize that "even dogmatics with the best knowledge and conscience can do no more than question after the better, and never forget that we are succeeded by other, later men; who we hope will think and say better and more profoundly what we were endeavoring to think and to say. We must use our knowledge as it has been given to us today." We won't have the kind of certainty we could have by getting our dogmatics from Apostolic Authority but we will have a better understanding of the contextualized nature of the gospel, because it to was revealed in time. And its interpretation is also historically sensitive.
The difference between dogmatics and Truth might have to do with the Gospel being revealed to the Apostles. But what is said to them is not what is accepted by any Christians as the only stuff necessary to the Gospel. If the apostles got the whole thing then you would think that the early church would have been the ones who had it better then anyone else, because they were closer to the unadulterated gospel. But actually, we have to take what was said and work it out, which is the task of dogmatics. So there isn't a time when we can say, here is where the gospel got revealed in such a way that we don't have to do any work to understand it. Interpretation is taking place from the beginning. So I think that appealing to Apostolic Authority so that you can be sure that you have the full gospel is like saying that you can get absolute Truth.
I like Barth's emphasis on Biblical authority with tradition. I was a bit skeptical of his 'Word of God' talk about the Bible until he clarified. He said that Holy Scripture, as the witness of the prophets and apostles to Jesus, is the word of God because it proclaims Jesus Christ, the Word of God. So the first standard for Dogmatics is the account in the Holy Scriptures. Barth then gives an appropriate place for tradition when he likens tradition's authority to parental authority. It is a non-binding authority which is still taken seriously.
Then he gets into Faith as Trust. And this is where I loose him. I mean this is where I don't agree but I don't totally disagree with some of it either. I guess its like listening to my parents. I understand what they are saying and I see why it makes so much sense to them but I don't agree. Yet I don't adamantly disagree either. I can question their way of thinking but I haven't been able to totally chuck it off. So, Barth is talking about the creed and the phrase 'I believe.' He rejects 'subjective' talk about faith for 'objective' talk which he sees as focusing on the what of belief and not on the subject's experience when he believes. His rhetoric makes the point in an extremely strong way. "whoso should keep his life shall lose it; but whoso gives it up for my sake shall gain his life. Whoso means to rescue and preserve the subjective element shall lose it; but whoso gives it up for the sake of the objective, shall save it." So focusing on the human experience of faith and not on what you have faith in will cause you to loose the faith. Sure, there might be a danger here but I don't think that it has to be a necessary connection. I think that you can do both.
Then he says that 'I believe' is consummated in a meeting with God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What is suppose to interest you is not yourself and your faith but the object of your belief. We have no rights to this meeting but through grace we receive it. The meeting is a meeting with the word of grace spoken in Jesus Christ. God coming to us says 'I am gracious to you.' God meets us in Jesus Christ, him who is 'true God and true man for our good.' So that "when we say, I believe in God, the concrete meaning is that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." This meeting is the freedom to hear God's Word, to hear Jesus. The he gets really Calvinistic and talks on about how it is grace to hear the word and grace all over again if we have ears and eyes to hear it. Then he says that if you have ears and eyes to hear you will have faith in the gospel with such confidence that you can't withdraw from it. People themselves are unfaithful: "the human path is a path from one disloyalty to another..." but because God says that He is with us we are to live in the certainty of that proclamation.
Barth then says that the Gospel is the new law. That Gospel and law are not to be separated. Since we have the Gospel we are not left to our own wayward ideas but we have His commandments. So faith is not an ideal for us but a commandment. It is not a goal but something that we are free to trust. But once we trust it must be exclusively, once for all, in spite of anything else. He says there is of course doubt, but once someone believes there is a change in their character, and anyone who has to deal with unbelief should not take his own unbelief too seriously. So he gets the idea that we are ruined by God and he says there can be doubt, but we should ignore it. Typical.
But wait... he deals briefly with God's absence. Look out there is a long quote coming: "God is hidden from us outside His Word. But He is manifest to us in Jesus Christ. If we look past Him, we must not be surprised if we fail to find God and experience errors and disillusionments, if the world seems dark to us. When we believe, we must believe in spite of God's hiddenness. This hiddenness of God necessarily reminds us of our human limitation. We do not believe out of our personal reason and power. Anyone who really believes knows that. The greatest hindrance to faith is again and again just the pride and anxiety of our human hearts. We would rather not live by grace. Something within us energetically rebels against it. We do not wish to receive grace; at best we prefer to give ourselves grace. This swing to and fro between pride and anxiety is man's life. Faith bursts through them both."

A current perspective on Covenant and Law (Feb. 21, 2004)

The Covenant God made with Abraham looks like the covenants made between Kings and subjects at this historical time. These types of covenants are called Suzerain covenants. They follow a certain form. There is always in a covenant of this type a part that establishes the identity of the two parties, the responsibility of the two, and the blessings and cursing if the covenant is alternately fulfilled or broken. Then follows a procedurals manual that lays out more specifically how the obligations entered into under the covenant are to be fulfilled. The procedural manual is not the covenant but it is closely related. The covenanting King always had a right to change the procedures.
In Jesus Christ God makes a move of grace and love, moving beyond what is ever seen in a Suzerain covenant. In this case the King decides that he will fulfill the procedures that he required himself. In doing so he does not negate the rightness of the procedures he gave, nor does he change the manner in which his subjects have fellowship with him. He makes the fellowship possible by fulfilling the procedures himself. “… so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled…” The law itself is not unrighteous nor does it teach unrighteousness. Instead it is useful for correction and instruction in righteousness. It is as the Psalmist declares, sweeter than honey and more precious than gold. There is no new covenant. That is a misnomer. The same covenant that was established with Abraham is still in effect.
When Jesus teaches he is instructing the covenanted community of God the new procedural manual. The beatitudes, etc. are all instructions for the community who will be part of the Kingdom of God. The focus of the teaching is on identifying yourself with the work of Christ so that your fellowship with God exists. In fact it is in that fellowship that the law is fulfilled for you. It cannot be fulfilled for you except through that fellowship with Jesus the one who fulfilled the procedures. The disciples have a “better righteousness” (Matt. 5: 17-20) than the Pharisees because of the grace by which they can identify with Jesus’ righteousness. This fellowship exists concomitantly with following the righteous one. Their righteousness
is always a gift which they received when they were called to follow him. In fact their righteousness consists precisely in their following him, and in the beatitudes, the reward of the kingdom of heaven has been promised. It is a righteousness under the cross, it belongs only to the poor, the tempted, the hungry, the meek, the peacemakers, the persecuted – who endure their lot for the sake of Jesus; it is the visible righteousness of those who for the sake of Jesus are the light of the world. This is where the righteousness of the disciple exceeds that of the Pharisees; it is grounded solely upon the call to fellowship with him who alone fulfils the law. Their righteousness is righteousness indeed, for from henceforth they do the will of God and fulfill the law themselves. Again, it is not enough to teach the law of Christ, it must be done, otherwise it is no better than the old law. (For, while the Pharisees strove to keep the law in all its particulars, they were not able to succeed.) In what follows (Matt. 6) the disciples are told how to practice this righteousness of Christ. In a word, it means following him. It is the real and active faith in the righteousness of Christ. It is the new law, the law of Christ. (Quoted from Bonhoffer, The Cost of Discipleship)
Matt 5 and 6, the law of Christ, is how you have fellowship with him, and through him, you have identification with his righteousness. It is in his fellowship that the law is fulfilled for you. This is why we have a new law, new regulations for the community, a new delineation of how we are to use the freedom to which we are “condemned.” It is a new law to bring us to perfection (maturity) “so that we may be complete lacking nothing.” The new law teaches what it means to have fellowship with Christ, to be a disciple. That completion is the fruition of the identification/fellowship with Christ established by his fulfilling the law. It is because of his fulfillment of the law for us that we also have fellowship with the Father.
So there is nothing wrong with the original precepts of the law, accept that God’s people continually failed to keep them, separating them from God. So God stepped in and established a new precept or procedure, discipleship of and fellowship with Jesus the Christ, which allows for the fulfillment of the whole law. A person could continue to observe the procedures of the law so long as he recognized that he was not earning a righteousness by it that he didn’t have in Christ. The psalmists are still right when they say that the law revives the soul and it is wise instruction by which you will live long on the earth. This is where personal conviction seems best to apply. This is where I can see Paul’s talk of acting in accordance with your own conviction seems to be appropriately applied. I see the character in Chariots of Fire in a similar manner. He was a man who sincerely was convinced that for him to race in a competition on the Sabbath was not fulfilling the commandment to keep it holy and set apart for the LORD. For him to have ran on that day would have been to compromise the principles by which he lived obedience and honor to the LORD.

From Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship: Cheap Grace

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves… the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship…
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ…
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock…
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man to only true life. Costly grace is the incarnation of God…”

“It is a fatal misunderstanding to suppose that it was the great discovery of the Reformation that God’s forgiving grace automatically conferred upon the world both righteousness and holiness.”

“Luther had taught that man cannot stand before God, however religious his works and ways may be, because at bottom he is always seeking his own interests. In the depth of his misery, Luther had grasped by faith the free and unconditional forgiveness of all his sins. That experience taught him that this grace had cost him his very life, and must continue to cost him the same price day by day.”

“At the end of a life spent in the pursuit of knowledge Faust has to confess: ‘I now do see that we can nothing know.’ That is the answer to a sum, it is the outcome of a long experience. But as Kierkegaard observed, it is quite a different thing when a freshman comes up to the university and uses the same sentiment to justify his indolence. As the answer to a sum it is perfectly true, but as the initial data it is a piece of self-deception. For acquired knowledge cannot be divorced from the existence in which it is acquired. The only man who has the right to say that he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ. Such a man knows that the call to discipleship is a gift of grace, and that the call is inseparable from the grace. But those who try to use this grace as a dispensation from following Christ are simply deceiving themselves.”

“Happy are the simple followers of Jesus Christ who have been overcome by his grace, and are able to sing the praises of the all-sufficient grace of Christ with humbleness of heart. Happy are they who, knowing that grace, can live in the world without being of it , who, by following Jesus Christ, are so assured of their heavenly citizenship that they are truly free to live their lives in this world. (That’s where I want to be.) Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship. Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word. For them the word of grace has proved a fount of mercy.”

Why am I so tired? Why do I only feel awake after talking to you? In the days I move with determination, not to appear half removed, like a sleep walker. My limbs feel heavy and my mind like a clod. I think sometimes I must be sick, this kind of exhaustion that lives in my joints and weighs down my breath can't be normal.

When did I forget expectancy? When did the passion and cry "Even so, Come quickly Lord Jesus" become so unfamiliar? When did the passion for the impossible pale with the waning of expectancy? Maybe what I really want is not to see as the mystic but rather to see as the prophet. To live a"...religion that is more prophetic than apophatic, more in touch with Jewish prophets than with Christian Neoplatonists, more messianic and more eschatological than mystical... more inscribed by the promise, by circumcision, and by the mark of father Abraham (who journeyed without knowing where) than by mystical transports, more like Amos and Isaiah than Pseudo-Dionysius, moved more by prophetico-ethico-political aspiration than by aspiring to be one with the One."

My religion might be "the apocalyptic call for the impossible, but without calling for the apocalypse that would consume its enemies in fire and damnation; it repeats the work of circumcision as the cut that opens the same to the other without sectarian closure; it repeats Abraham's trek up to Moriah and makes a gift without the return of Isaac... repeating the madness of giving without return; it repeats the movements of faith, expecting what we cannot know but only believe - of the blindness of faith in the impossible, but without the dogmas of the positive religious faiths."

Its about being "driven mad by a passion for the promise."

Even so, come quickly LORD... Amen.



(All quotes lifted from Caputo, Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida, probably out of context and miss used, likely miss understood, most likely with a switch in the referent.)

An Early Morning with Rain and Mud
This morning I awoke to another rain storm. I managed to lay in bed for a few minutes just enjoying the lighting, intense thunder, and the beautifully noisy rain. What a day to lie in bed safe and un-drenched. But such luxury was not for me.
As the muddy rivulets tumbled lower, gravity and the lack of traction threatened numerous times to make me join them. I wondered this morning if I was the only sucker out after such a furious deluge. With my journey down Makindye Hill half over I had yet to see another soul. Then a Jeep crawled up out of the mire ahead of me and waited for my approach. Either the driver wanted me to pass so he could assist me with my mud bath or he was going to offer me a ride. Admittedly, I didn’t know the gentleman. But he spoke with a British accent, had a kindly face, and since Mzungus look out for one another out here I accepted the ride. I was also encouraged in my decision by my already soaked jeans, which had become water logged around my upper thigh and bum when I took a tumble down the stairs at the beginning of the merry journey. Furthermore, my toes were beginning to feel the dampness creeping through. So I gratefully hopped into the back seat, and hoped I wouldn’t be leaving a wet spot behind. It turns out that the guy is with MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) and as I expected, he knows the Slaters. He deposited me right at my taxi stop and went on his way to collect his fiancée. It is nice to know another neighbor.
Even though I had a bit of assistance on the way to school I still arrived with mud-encrusted shoes. I had intended to bring a pair of sandals in my bag to change into but my 6 am brain wasn’t screwed in when I left the house, so that plan fell through. I ended up teaching barefoot. When I thought of how many times I was scolded as a four year old for taking off my shoes in class, I was deliciously pleased with my un-attired feet.

Inell and the kids went out this evening so I have the place to myself but I haven't managed to do anything except make up handouts for my kids to fill out in Geography class. SO BORING!! Can I tell you again, I really don't want to teach kids. Maybe highschool would be better. Though I had a scary passing thought today that all teaching might be this bad. That means my last hope for a job could disappear. Of what use will I be to anyone if I don't like anything I could do as a job? How will I pay off those loans without sacrificing half my life to money making labor? Considering another third of my life is spent sleeping there doesn't seem to be much life left.

Okay... I'm just playing around. But it sure would be nice to find some people who would like to pay for me to live in another country, study, and hangout with people all the time. Oh wait... that's mission work! :)

I am so uninspired this evening, geography just saps any interesting ideas or desire to even think. Trying to come up with easy enough language to explain longitude and latitude to a bunch of second graders is taxing my verbal abilities. It would be so much easier if these kids knew how to read and follow instructions and if I had workbook material for them. I discovered today that Faith, the school administrator and their teacher, really doesn't know what to teach them either. They are all at different levels and we already have two parents complaining that the work is too hard for them. It would help if I could get material which explains concepts using vocabulary they understand. Some times I wonder if they can understand me at all. Maybe I should blog some of my geography worksheet for the kids that I spent hours working on today. I could entitle it, My Wasted Life. :)

Wow, I can't seem to think about anything else right now. I need to shock my brain out of this topic.

First Rain, Mission Politics
(from a letter to Stephen)
Again, the days seem to slip by. Part of the problem is that I always have people around to talk to, especially Inell. I don't like sitting in my room to read, the light bulb in there is terrible. So I come up stairs but then there are people around. This last weekend there was the field meeting. So there were people around Thursday and all day Friday. Then Sat. I slept in because I was up until 3 am the night before reading your emails. Then we had a baby shower for a lady in the church who had twins. Then I came home and needed to study for Sunday school which I led again. I tried to give the job to someone else this week but I was asked to lead next Sunday as well. Another blessing.
We went out to lunch after church got home at 3pm and slept until 7.30. I was feeling terrible, my body ached and I was so tired. I only woke up long enough to crawl upstairs for half and hour and lay in an African chair on the balcony so I could enjoy the rain. The first rain storm. Everything really needed it. The dust was washed away, off the plants, out of the air (the wind that came before the storm clogged the air with dirt), the driveway ran clean. I could see the muddy streaks as the water washed down the drive. The heavens just opened and poured out. The wind kept wipping through the trees. There was even some hail at the very beginning. The whole city was cooled and the fresh air, wow, it was great! Then I slept again. Inell and I watched Oh Brother Where Art Thou. We just finished. It was great to hear the music again. It reminded me of our late summer nights on the grass with the guys.
Oh... we don't have one of the cars. Inell and Brent went out for valentine's dinner on Sat and on the way the car broke down. They made it back home with the help of Robert, the guy who works for your Uncle and for CBI for the last 8 years. Robert is really cool. Pour guy, he is engaged but having problems with the girls family so they can't get married. Anyway, I set up the table really nice with the flowers Brent had bought and made tuna sandwiches for them when they finally got home. It was fun. Tuna sandwiches are still special to them because they couldn't have them very often when they lived up country during the early years.
So that was my weekend. Well, not quite. I did get to be involved with part of the field meeting. I was around most of the day, except for the hour that I left when my mom called me. Had a good talk with mom. She is taking an apologetics class and getting to hear about people like SK and Kant. We had a fun discussion on that. And... David is HOME!! He got in today. Anyway, back to the meeting. Things went well, they covered philosophy of ministry, a large part of which I really liked, especially the desire to empower the Africans to take care of themselves and the focus on not just making life easy but helping people to push through the hard times and do what it takes to care for their own. For example they don't just pass out money but instead they encourage the churches to support their own people when they go to seminary and to really stretch and save money to build churches. There was also some financial talk and I saw the break down of finances, and the way CBI regulates the funds. But then there was this huge discussion about helping to send leaders to seminary. There are two options, one is a Baptist seminary in Jinja the other is the one Brent and Inell helped to start (CBI started) in Kisoro. But when the one in Kisoro was started the mission said they would have nothing to do with supporting it after three years. Hence, the place is the only self-sufficient bible school run by nationals in the country. But there is some inconsistency because they have been supporting a few students to Jinja, which doesn't have as good of an education, but they won't support students to Kisoro because of this rule that was set down. Well some of the missionaries want to start supporting people to Kisoro. Problem is there is no way to only support a few. There would be a snowball effect. And some people are concerned that the churches take responsibility for helping to train their leaders. Some of the churches have done it, with great sacrifice. But the ones in Kabale think they can't manage. So the missionaries there want to help. But that isn't fair for them to only help the people that they know in their own churches. Well, things got pretty heated. If the field won't support these students, then those missionaries might not be able to get their people trained. Well, I was talking to Inell on Friday night and I recommended a half way solution. Why not set up a scholarship fund that runs off of interest. The school would have absolute discretion over it, they could decide who needed extra help etc. She and Brent both think it is a good idea and they are going to present it to everyone and see if it can be looked into. Yet, now those missionaries can't be assured that their people will get the help, and it will take some time to set up so they might have to train their people for a year or so while the church saves money to send them to the bible school. Its interesting to see how things are worked out. There really has to be a willingness to bend and give grace to people and it helps when everyone is dedicated to similar principles. This is something your mom was complaining about. She kept saying that she doesn't want to work with people again who aren't dedicated to the same principles as she and your dad.

Brent and Bethany on James
(from a letter to Stephen)

Hey. I am going to send you the notes from your Uncle's sermon last Sunday. You said that you wanted to hear him preach and I think that he does a great job. Since there aren't any tapes available I will send you the notes.

We had another good Bible Study tonight. We are starting James, your Uncle's pick, and I was excited about it. So here is what I really enjoyed to night.

James 1:1-8
James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
(We talked about James being Jesus' brother. One who thought at one time that Jesus was crazy. He was convinced only after the resurrection. We talked about being a bondservant. The connection to Leviticus and making a choice to be a slave ( "bondservant"). He became the head of the church in Jerusalem and was martyred around 63 AD. This is one of the very early Christian books. Written to Christians a good many of whom where probably Jews. We know this because he calls them brothers and he refers to them as those scattered from the twelve tribes. They are probably Christians who have fled the persecution in Jerusalem.)
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (The word "testing" is often used in the new testament though it isn't a very common word in other Greek texts. It is the kind of testing that you do to a pot when you fire it to see if it will crack. It is a testing for quality.) (We also talked about the selection of the word 'count.' James didn't say to feel joy but to count it as joy. There is an issue of choice and attitude.) (Patience, or endurance, is also an interesting word in the Greek. It means to choose to stay under. To keep under something. Imagine a huge weight on you and you choose to stay under it. Brent started talking about it as staying power.)
But let patience/endurance/perseverance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ("Perfect" is coming from Jesus' use of the word. In Matt. he uses it when he is talking about loving your enemies and again when he talks to the rich young ruler who kept all the law but couldn't sell what he had and give it to the poor. This kind of perfection is not perfection out of being human but rather it is like God because it is whole or complete. It is a perfection from maturity. It means to become all that it is possible for you to be.)
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double minded man, unstable in all his ways.
(We didn't get to those verses tonight. I guess they will be for next week. One thing Brent did say about the whole book had to do with some of the history of the text. How Luther didn't like it because he thought that it had too much to do with works. But Brent pointed out that the book begins with faith. It begins with the testing of faith. He sees this as the theme. This book is about maturity, staying power, and the fulfilment of all that you were given to be. It is about the sanctification through faith.)

It has been good to hear this kind of exposition of the word. I don't think that I have been around it much since I was a kid in 8th and 9th grade. I realise it is what you got all your life so this stuff might all be familiar to you. Sorry if it bores you but I find that this is a method of preaching that I will enjoy learning from for a while. You know me, always balance. I don't think that this is the only way but it is a good one.

I was blessed to hear these things tonight. I had a rather depressed day and I really didn't want to be at the Bible Study, but it is here at the house so I couldn't get out of it. But is was really the best thing for me. As I am troubled there is wisdom available. A wisdom which is not just knowledge but practical knowledge, knowledge used for working though and in life. That wisdom is given by God, through the kind of faith that is perfected. So maybe when I was a kid and prayed for trials it wasn't a stupid thing to do. I am willing to have them, to be tried in the fire, to be sifted like wheat. One thing that I have been thinking is the way that trials can make people bitter. Yet we are to count them as joy. Inell and I have been talking about living life to enjoy it. It is good to have someone else around who sees the value in enjoying things. So I really hope that I don't loose the love of life and become bitter. I want to live gracefully.

For those who may have been wondering why Bethany hasn't been posting: well, she's out of range of internet (and thus also her email account at hotmail). In her own words:

"I am going to use Brent and Inell's email so that I can at least do that from home. Their internet connection isn't good enough to let me get online but I can get on just long enough to send email out of outlook."

She can only get online from the Mall where there is an internet cafe. I, Stephen, will be posting her stuff for her, since I can use the internet from Israel. This means that there will be a greater lag in time between when she writes stuff and when it gets posted. I will try to keep it from being more than a week. some of it might go up in hours, but that would be the best turnover time. I will change the dates of the posts to correspond with when she writes them. Be aware of this and don't just look at the top, take a look at the whole thing. Especially, anything that comes before this blog.
I have posted, and am posting stuff from the whole time she has been gone: both what she wrote for the blog, and other news from letters to me. I figured that you, her readers, might be interested in that too. If your are reading "you" on the blog, and it sounds like she is really in love with, or upset with you, sitting there peacefully at your computer in the states, know that I probably overlooked a section that was for me. I hope this won't happen much, I know it would be heartbreaking to find that she didn't mean you, when she says she loves you. :)

with St. John's in Detroit standing behind

This is the message I just got from Father Kelley. I am so excited.

----- Original Message -----
From: Fr. Steven J. Kelly, SSC
To: Brent & INELL
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 1:31 AM
Subject: RE: from Bethany Boyd


> Thanks be to God for your safe arrival!
> I sent a check to your parents...more to come in the future, Deo volente!
> SJK+
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brent & INELL
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2004 11:03 AM
> To: rector@stjohnsdetroit.org
> Subject: from Bethany Boyd
>
>
>
> Father Kelley,
> Attached is a letter updating you all on my progress here in Uganda.
> Thank you for taking an interest in my work. I have missed being in Church
> with you all at St. John's and I look forward to seeing you again this
> summer. Please greet your wife for me. I have really appreciated the few
> times that she and I have had a chance to talk.
> Please email me back to let me know that you have received this letter.
>
> Blessings,
> Bethany

On Mission Life
I still have that nasty cold. I can't seem to get rid of it. So abandoned wads of tissue are left in my wake. I have had the whole morning off. It was great to sleep in to 9.30. I am teaching this afternoon and then we have to go to Luke and Gerrett's horse riding lessons so I will bring some reading and sit with Inell at the resort. Its this place that some Asian guy spent a ton of money on. Its got a hotel and riding stables and it is right on Lake Victoria. Ahh, the life of a missionary... I have been surprised at the amount of time off from work missionaries seem to have. There is so much time spent just spending time with people (something I love to do) and time with their family. Since Brent and Inell really share the responsibility of the kids they are both around a good deal. Brent is often preparing for his classes, he teaches two, or for a sermon, or taking care of organizational stuff for the mission, but it just seems like they are doing things that I wouldn't really think of as work. It guess its because what they are doing isn't horribly boring. Its all centered around study and people. Like being in college.
I can also see how missionaries can totally abuse their time. There isn't a huge amount of over sight, so they have to be motivated on their own. From hearing Inell's stories there seem to be a lot of missionaries who aren't suited for the job but are here anyway. We had a talk about MKs who are here because they can't make it in the States. Inell said that used to bother her too but she has also figured that they are at least willing to live places that most American's wouldn't live and maybe they are doing the best possible thing they could do with their lives. Everyone is messed up with dysfunctional problems to some extent and they have to try to work with what they have got. Some of these MK's who have too many emotional troubles and are not adaptable enough can't make it in America, so they come back to their third culture, the only thing they feel comfortable in. And one of the benefits is that they often know the native language of the people, which is something a lot of missionaries don't attempt to do. I really want to try to learn the people's own language where ever I work. I would like to try to learn some Lugandan as well. At least some phrases and basic words.
But some of the missionaries Inell has seen are also very controlling and dominating in their styles. (Especially not suited to Baptist ideals.) We were talking about the Baptist ideal of local church autonomy and individual understanding of the scriptures when Inell mentioned that one of the big problems is that people just assume that if something is taught in church then it is right, especially if a mzungu says it. They have to work hard to encourage people to read the Bibles for themselves. Brent and Inell work with the church leadership and hope to see these ideals passed down. Because this is the tendency it’s really important to have missionaries who don't naturally try to control things. There is one family, in the States right now, with a dad who has a really dominating style. He wants to go up country but Brent won't let him. They know that he would dominate the people too much. So they keep him in town, which he doesn't like because the people in town are better educated and so they don't listen to him all the time. They are better equipped to challenge what he says. Its interesting to hear about some of these struggles when you have to deal with people.
Brent and Inell are talking about starting up a Labri styled place here in Uganda. Some of the leadership in the church are really excited about it. I guess its an idea that they have had for a long time. Right now they are just finally talking about it with others, so none of the practical sides have been worked out, but it might be something they will be working towards. There is a couple who are interested in helping them. This couple come in and help mission planted programs become self sufficient. They specialize in good ideas to help people use their resources to make money.
I really like the way that Brent and Inell worked out in Kesese. They helped the people there start a theological school and then they turned it over to them to run. Inell says right now they are having trouble getting other missionaries to realize that it is good for the place to be left alone. It is one of the only successful African run programs in Uganda right now (at least connected to CBI) and there are people who come out to visit and get all these grand ideas about how to pour more money into the place to make it better. But in doing that they would end up taking things over again. They want to come in a make it bigger, make more buildings, expand the classes, bring in theological training in English, etc. The school has land but Brent got the extra land for them so they could use it to raise crops to help support the school. So they are really struggling to let their baby go, and hope and pray that people don't get in and mess things up. But I told Inell that all institutions are liable to fall apart but at least it was good for a time. They have some of the same concerns about their Labri project. I guess some missionaries from the Anglican Church were charged with starting something like it. They bought an island out on Lake Victoria and developed it. When everything was done the Church in Uganda decided to use it as a source of revenue instead of a community where people could learn. So now it is one of the nicest resort places for vacationers. What a mess. I guess this shows that you can't put your heart into things continuing to be good. Sometimes you have to be thankful for the time you had and let it go.
Since I started working with kids I am more and more interested in teaching adults. It seems like there might actually be a place for female teachers in Africa after all. Brent told me about his discipleship group and their response to women not being allowed to preach in churches etc. They are a group of young guys who all couldn't understand why women, equal heirs through Christ, fellow laborers, weren't allowed by some churches to teach. Brent said he was shocked because of the way that this has always been a male dominated culture. He hadn't realized how much things had changed within the church he is working at. So he had to be the one to explain to them the submission stuff. He had to provide the opposite kind of balance on the status of women issue than he thought he would have to do. Inell and I have talked about this topic together and she says that she and Brent don't totally agree on the issue but that he loves it when she airs her opinion in missionary meetings etc. I guess there are still a lot of very conservative missionaries out here with CBI and some of these families are very male dominated. Brent just sits back and chuckles when Inell calls them on this issue and disagrees with all the men in the mission whether it be on this issue or on something else. A lot of the guys don't understand why Brent lets Inell be so vocal and they are scandalized that she thinks she can disagree with all of them. Its really funny to hear her talk about it. She has this smile of delight concerning the way that Brent encourages her to express her own opinion. She said that some of the missionary moms out here can't even cut their hair because their husbands won't let them have short hair, so Inell said before mission meetings she often likes to go out and get her hair cut. So... funny. It sounds like me doesn't it?
Well... now that I haven't done anything this morning except eat my french toast toped with fresh mango (with a syrup I made from the juice of a lemon) and write to you, I should probably get ready for the day. That way when Inell gets home at noon for lunch I will be ready to go over to teach. Its been a nice lazy morning.

Hey you all!
I have three minutes to write something. The internet here is SO freeking slow.
I am relying on Stephen to post things that I send to him. It looks like he is a bit behind. New stuff coming as soon as I give him a hard time.
I really miss our gatherings around a bottel of wine. Ugandan tea just doesn't cut it.

What I wouldn't give for a nice bottle of red. Aahhh!

catch you all later

“Hey Mzungu! Madam!”
I left the school today at the height of the heat, one in the afternoon. I keep my head covered now when I go out, just with a red scarf so that my hair doesn’t collect so much of the dirt. I have begun to look like a cancer patient, no curls peak out from my head covering, and my pale skin glows a sickly green color in the bright sun. All mzungus are beginning to appear other worldly. They seem frail and unsubstantial next to the fully colored Africans. We look like a coloring book, abandoned, given to a kid much too old for such things. Only the dust has not neglected us, as it settles it makes us look like the “white” collard shirts the men like to wear. Everything white seems to have been washed in the same load with a piece of red underwear.
So my chemo looking body trudged up to the taxi stop, barely looking up as the men tried to get my attention, tss tss tss, its not too hard to ignore them. Then I heard a taxi slowing at my side, “Madam, madam, hey mzungu!” I popped my head up for just a moment so I could shake my head and tell them I didn’t want to go their way and I met the man’s eyes. His smile glowed in his face and he called out, “you are so beautiful, hey beautiful lady.” I ducked my head down again, turned my back, and laughed out loud. So there are ego benefits to being the only mzungu within five miles. Even on a chemo day I am beautiful?

“Men who had left the port forever would sometimes remember on a gray wet London evening the bloom and glow that faded almost as soon as it was seen: they would wonder why they had hated the coast and for a space of a drink they would long to return.”

The sun rose this morning. Today was clear. Over Lake Victoria the sky bloomed peach, yellow, and red. As Mzee walked ahead of me, seeming to pull me along, his step never faltering, keeping me always five feet behind him, I wanted to gesture to him, to try to share the glory of the morning with him, with someone. But I don’t speak Swahili and he never looked back at me or even up to the horizon. He kept his old head bent studying the dusty pink, clay heavy path, steep and slippery. He had agreed to leave off washing the cars, a task he does every morning, to show me a new way to the taxis. Mzee says he has to wash the cars, that Brent and Inell look unimportant if their car isn’t clean. They say it doesn’t matter to them and I know that Brent would prefer to save the money he has to spend on water but they let him, its part of what makes his life worthwhile, a job well done. So I admired the fresh world on my own and wondered if I will remember this scene after I have left Uganda forever.

Teaching New Class at Word of Life
Oh.. I am getting switched from my P2 class, which I thought was second grade but is actually first grade into a P3 class which is actually second grade and is quite a bit bigger. Faith, the teacher I am working with at Word of Life and the director of the school talked to Kevin's teacher from last year and they think that he really needs consitancy to make it through. So Faith switched the P3 teacher to P2, and she and I will split P3. So I get to meet a whole new group of kids, I think there are 6 or 7 of them, and I get to familurize myself with all new curriculum. But it might be a bit more interesting for me to deal with second graders instead of first graders. I won't be teaching things like capitalizing the first work of a sentence and how to count by tens. I meet the class on Tuesday.

Baptisms in rural Uganda
Brent came back from Rubaga today with some great stories about baptisms. There were 15 people to be baptised and the only water they have around is swamp. So someone dug out a ten by ten foot hole and that's what they had to get into for the baptisms. And the people were really freaking out. The pastor asked Brent to do some of the baptisms so he started. One guy was so scared that he was rapidly sucking in air and didn't finish before he was dunked. Brent could see him with his eyes and mouth wide open under the water, arms flailing. One guy that the pastor did was so scared that he propelled himself out of the water and right into the bank of mud. Another ten year old kid was to scared to let the pastor dunk him and resisted. So the pastor had to jerk the kid up and force him down really fast. So that kid got strong armed into the baptism. Brent said he was really glad that he stepped out and let the pastor baptise the women because one woman flailed around so much that she came up bare to the waist. He said the whole experience was hilarious but the people watching were just as scared so their laughter had fear in it.

Sunday School, Church and Discussion with Brent
The women's Sunday school went well, everyone participated and shared something. The few things that I said just triggered them and there was a nice exchange that happened. We ended up talking longer then an hour and were late getting into the service. I had a hard time dealing with the preaching at church today. One of the Ugandan's spoke. I know the guys wife, I have had some good fellowship with her, and Inell and Brent think a lot of them, they actually have a good marriage, which is hard to find out here. But his preaching... well I have to admit that I didn't listen too closely after the first few minutes when I noticed that he really wasn't going to use the text he was supposed to be talking about. Mark 6 the first few verses where Jesus marvels at the unbelief of the people in his own home and can't perform any great miracles there. The guy kind of rode on re telling what Brent said last week and so I kind of stopped paying attention. There was a strong evangelical thrust to the whole thing, focusing on getting people saved. Trying to convict people to not remain part of the crowed but to reach out to meet God in a personal relationship. Well, needless to say, not very compelling for me at this time. So I read a good portion of Deuteronomy and then finished the rest this afternoon. I also looked back at Acts, the Jerusalem Council, and then flipped over to Amos. I was starting to get frustrated with prophesy and so I asked Brent about the temple in Ezekial and the fulfilment of Christ ruling and the people coming to Jerusalem. This led to a discussion concerning pre, post, and a millenialism. Well, I really just listened and asked a few questions. He seems to think that there is more historical continuity for pre mill then I was led to believe and that a mill doesn't really leave you with a consistent hermeneutic. And he doesn't like post mill because, well his Baptist, and likes early church ecclesia and doesn't think the church should be more then what Jesus sets it up to be. Jesus speaks to the church and says that, they will hate you just as they have hated me. He doesn't say that it will reign on the earth.
We also briefly talked about interpretation of prophesy and some of the challenges involved in reading ancient Hebrew, especially some of the problems with trying to do a detailed study of prophesy from a translation. He said that Hebrew has very limited grammar. It has moods and some tenses but very few verbs. So you will get whole sentences made up of nouns. So one of the things that is really hard to construct is the timing for prophesies. He said that Hebrew is pictorial because it strings together word pictures to convey meaning, like using a bunch of descriptive words. Brent said that he sees the most important role of prophesy not to be connected to figuring out what will happen in the future but rather to determine how I should respond, how I should live in light of what is said. He also said that he things that we should read the Old Test prophesy looking for ways in which it connects with Jesus, note the verses about their being a vale over the eyes of people who read without doing this. But he seems concerned with not just spiritualizing everything, he doesn't like a-mill because it does that. He thinks there will be a literal 1000 year reign in which Jesus will sit in Jerusalem, all people will come there, all people will be forced to bow at the name, and there will probably be a temple, though he can't think why their would be sacrifices going on there. I don't remember what he said about the prince in Ezekial offering sacrifices, shoot... I don't think he totally dodged the question but maybe he did. He said that he didn't think that Jesus would allow the dome of the rock to remain and that he would build a temple, I don't remember if Brent thinks it will be a reminder or what. Anyway, interesting to listen to him talk on the subject. Especially on the construction of Hebrew.

Ride on a Boda Boda
Well... just a little adventure. I rode on a boda boda! Inell told me to walk down the hill to a new spot in order to catch a taxi to the American Embassy. I had to register so Uncle Sam knows I am here. I went down the hill but when I asked a taxi that passed if they go to the embassy they said I had to ride a boda boda. I tried to get them to show me how to walk to where I needed to get the taxis but by then there were three guys all telling me I needed to take a boda boda. So I did. It was fun. I felt like I was in an old movie from the thirties. I had a long scarf on my head and I was riding side saddle on the back of a scooter. (Because I was wearing a skirt.) Sort of like Aubrey Hepburn in A Roman Holiday. Except I don't think that she had to keep fighting to keep from having her skirt blow up around her head. It wasn't really that bad, but I was showing a good deal more leg then is entirely appropriate here. Like I think you could see past my knee. :)

Teaching Begins
I worked at Luke and Gerrett's one room school on Monday. Ester is the teacher and I really like working with her. She does all the lesson plans and I just show up and teach different subjects. What ever she needed help with. We have a first grader, 2 third graders, 3 fifth graders and Luke who is in seventh grade. I wish you were here with me to spend some time with the boys. You could talk to them and get to know them so much better than I could.
Inell and I went on the taxi this morning to Word of Life School. That teacher is less organised, probably because it is the second day of school and she is also the administrator along with her husband.
I was walking to work when the sun rose this morning. I made it up before I heard the Muslim call to prayer. The sun rises at 7 am and sets at 7pm all year round here. Inell and I were catching our first taxi at 6.45. We had to take the taxi into the city and then catch another one to get out of the city, on the other side from where I live. I made it about 15 min early for work which is better than I expected. I get to do everything alone tomorrow so that should be fun. When I got home tonight I couldn't wait to take a shower and brush my teeth. Out of my hair came all this brownish red stuff and my teeth felt gritty and seemed discoloured to me. The nastiest was the way that my snot was brown all day long. :) Its the dry season here so if I walk anywhere the dust from the passing cars settles on everything. There isn't a clean white shirt among any of the Ugandan's I have seen on the streets. Everything takes on a reddish hue. The taxi service has two options. I can take a van or I can ride on a boda boda, a motorcycle. Since the boda boda's account for 30% off all deaths in Kampala, as much as AIDS, Brent and Inell have asked me not to use them unless there is no other option. The vans aren't bad. They are slated for a maximum capacity of 14 and there are enough of them that you don't have too much over crowding, at least not at the time I when I go to work. If I went 15 min latter I might get stuck in traffic that could take me hours to get across town so I can't be late.
Teaching today, second grade, made me realise that I really want to teach adults. I will manage but for the first half of the day I was just observing the other teacher, Faith, and I almost fell asleep. The best part of the day was listening to Bible Study time. Faith was trying to explain what an Idol was. She asked the kids if they have ever seen an idol and Etta (short for Henrietta) said that she had seen them at church at Christmas time. The statues of baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph and all the rest. It was amusing to watch the teacher back-pedal and try to explain why those weren't idols but other statues were. :) Kids can be great. I have three second graders so the class is an easy size for someone who has never officially taught before. It is still hard to keep them all at the same place since one might be faster than another at the work. I don't like holding kids back but I don't want to rush ahead and have the class at different points in their work books. The other two kids are Kevin and Micah ( not Micah Slater). I really like Micah, he is talkative and bright. He can keep up and does his work neatly. Kevin will be the challenge for me. I learned at the end of the day that he started speaking English just last year so he is doing well. But I think my accent throws him off and he seems a bit intimidated by me. He doesn't answer my questions so I have trouble telling if he understands me. He just gives me this blank stare sometimes. I think things will get a bit better as we figure out what level the kids need to start at. Some of the things we did today it looks like they already know so it was hard to keep them interested. I have to teach all the subjects but thankfully their isn't much prep needed since I don't have to remind myself how to do the stuff I am teaching. We are working on basic writing skills like capitalisation and punctuation, sentence construction and spelling. We have a reading book that I will read allowed from and use for discussion. They have work sheets that go along with that as well so that we can test comprehension levels. They also have a book that they read from out loud so they get practice reading smoothly and not just word by word. The math is learning to add numbers above ten and working on counting by tens. (I have to look over the math lesson for tomorrow but that shouldn't take too much time.) The science stuff is learning things like the creation story, at least so far. We are suppose to be doing some really basic theology in Bible class but instead we are going to do an over view of Bible history. These kids have heard some of the stories in Sunday school but they don't know how the stories fit together. So we have to bring them up to speed on that before we can deal with theological stuff like God is three in one. I would like to know how I am suppose to explain that to a second grader.
Since this teacher would really like to do as little as possible with this class she has given me the books and let me loose. She doesn't really have any lesson plans except what the books have laid out in the teacher's manuals. She wants me to take over the class full time but it won't work because of the cost of transportation and my commitments to the other school. I don't feel too badly though since she only has to teach one full day on Monday and then Thursday and Friday are only half days. So I am taking at least half of the work load. We have also arranged for me to pick up the grading work from her on Sunday at church so I will be helping with that as well. That seems like a nice balance.
I met the college girls that Inell has a bible study with today and we all went out for ice-cream. We won't start until they get back from vacation at the end of Feb. but it was good to connect with them anyway. We laughed a lot and they weren't shy to welcome me at all. They seem to really appreciate having Inell around. Several of them don't have mothers and they seem to just lap up the care that she gives to them. Inell told me that a good deal of the older women at church do not make friends with the young girls because they see the girls as a threat to their marriages. Since a good deal of the marriages aren't based on love, there is a lot of infidelity. The older women don't have the girls over to their houses and generally try to keep them away from their husbands. So these girls don't have people to help disciple them. We have a slumber party planed here for the end of Feb. so that should be fun. Six girls and I will figure out how to share the two beds down stairs. They stayed the night a few months ago and they were still talking about how wonderful it was to see Brent helping made dinner and putting the kids to bed. They were shocked that he always makes breakfast. They said they have all decided to marry American mizungus (White people). Brent and Inell said that discipleship is desperately needed for young adults and married couples. So many of them are first generation Christians and they don't have anyone took look to as a model for a good marriage. The state of marriages in the church is one of the most pressing problems right now.

It will be good to get a chance to sleep in tomorrow. I realised today that I need to spend some time studying righteousness these next two days if I am going to be ready for Sunday School. I think that Brent's concordance and I have a date for tomorrow morning. I think that I am only helping at the home school in the afternoon tomorrow. It has been nice not to spend vary much money now that I finally got here. I only had about a hundred dollars left after I paid my bills in the states and lived in England for two weeks. I asked Brent about money for my keep but he kind of blew me off. He seemed to say not to worry about it. So far I have only really had to spend money on the cell phone and taxis, which is only like $1.20 a day. We will see if as I get to know more people I will have to start spending more.
At school today I finally hung out with the other teachers. We have a mid morning break for half an hour and they always get together and have tea. They seem like nice women and they are very accepting of my presence. We will see how things go, I would like to be able to make friends and try to encourage them in their personal lives instead of just helping out by teaching.

I really like the way that Brent and Inell do most of their ministry through discipleship. Its a huge responsibility, you have to keep pressing to grow and learn so that you will continue to have something to give, but it is the most natural way for me to think about helping people. I like the way that Brent teaches a few theology classes and then does a lot of discipleship. He has a group of young guys he sees every week and he is very involved with helping to build up the leadership of the church. Working to provide for people who are first generation Christians a good example of how to be a father, husband, and man of God. Its the kind of ministry that I really like. There isn't a major impact accept on the community that you work with but I don't trust the major plans that see lots of people unless it is something like having a hospital.

Classes and Cat Calls
I taught a full day of classes today, all on my own. I don't think the kids hate me yet. I rode the taxi to and from school as well all alone, well, with 14 other Ugandans at any given time. I discovered on the way home that I am fine as long as I keep my head down. Since I don't understand the language I can't distinguish between a cat call and general friendliness so I just don't look. Since the guys are the only ones being friendly in a talkative way I figure its safe to assume they are just being men. My white skin makes me stand out in a crowd but it gets embarrassing to get all this attention when I look like crap, a full day of work and dust saturated hair and skin. The worst part was when the guys in the taxi driving next to us were so loud and kept yelling at me. I tried to pretend not to notice. At least the taxi people are polite. It takes an hour and a half to get to school, but that includes my long walk down the mountain so I can get to where the taxis are. one of the blessings is that I ride only on paved roads. I pick up the taxis right at the beginning of the pavement and I get off on a major road.

Good Cooking: a necessary skill for every marriage
(from a letter to Stephen)
Grace was teasing me today while she was making dinner. She told Inell that since I was dating her nephew I should be making dinner to prove that you wouldn't starve if I was to marry you. In her tribe the girl visits the boys family to get engaged but she has to first prove that she can cook. :) he he he... I might have to cook just so they all know that you are lucking out when it comes to my cooking abilities. :)

I don't feel like writing but I figure if I do it anyway I might get
into it and besides I owe it to you guys to keep in touch.
The Characters: (This is a running list, I will be adding more as they
enter my life.)
Brent - Stephen's Uncle, Teacher at the Church, Regional leader for
the Mission. PhD from Edinburgh University. Very helpful and kind. I
don't know him as well as his wife but they seem to have a great relationship
and I appreciate the way they interact. He is always up early to study and
makes breakfast for all of us.
Inell - like a big sister or a best friend in college. We have so
many ways of being and thinking in common that I find myself agreeing with
her a good deal of the time. So we have been non stop for the last four
days.
Luke - I think he is 13. Loves horseback riding. Average student.
Very talkative.
Gerrett - 8. Teases his brother Micah. Sets the table well and is
more likely to help without talking about it than his brother Luke.
Micah - 1.5 The miracle baby. Adopted and saved from impending death
from major medical problems.
Grace - The woman who has been helping in the house for 15 years or
so. She is from the tribe that Brent and Inell lived with for 19 years out
in the bush.

Its hot in Uganda tonight. I am sitting in an arm chair with my feet
up, looking out the glass doors to the veranda that over looks the city of
Kampala. The view is great night and day. I can see all the way out
to Lake Victoria.
The earth is red here and dusty. Only some of the roads are paved so
we spend a lot of time bouncing around. Its not bad if you let your body
be like a rag doll but when I am strapped into a seat with Micah I can't
let myself just bounce around. I held him today on the way to Luke's horse
riding competition. A little African baby's head bouncing on my collar
bone and rubbing the skin with his Velcro like hair was fun to try to
balance without squishing him between me and the seat belt.

I start work tomorrow. I met the Kenyan couple that run Word of Life
school, the one I am teaching at on Tue and Wed. I am taking over the
wife's second grade class so that she can have time to do other things. I
am working Mon and Thur at the one room school that a few families started
for their kids. Its where Luke and Garret go. At church this morning I
managed to volunteer myself to lead the women's Sunday school for the next two
weeks and Inell says that if I do a good job they will probably ask me to
finish out the topic. Since the topic was my suggestion I guess it will help
to keep me studying something that I am interested in anyway. I will be
doing a study of righteousness through the Old and New Covenants. I also met
one of the college girls at church today. Inell and I have a meeting with
a group of the girls at a coffee shop this week to talk about when we
should meet for weekly Bible studies. There is a prayer meeting with the
other missionaries in CBI on Friday at lunch time. There is a House Group
meeting at the Slater's on Thursday nights and I am sure there is more that I
will learn about next week. Inell and I are teaching one of the Ugandan
women at church how to swim starting tomorrow, so that is another part of my
weekly schedule for the next few months. In March there is a group of women
who have been elected to run women's activities for their Baptist churches
coming to Kampala for some leadership training. Brent asked me the
other day to think about being a big part of that as well.

On the whole I am adjusting well and this is a great adventure. There
is so much to keep me busy and so many ways in which I am learning to get
streached. I am learning to pray allowed, which I am not wont to do
that often, I have been entrusted with responsibility to teach and lead and
to speak up and teach the Word among women much older than me. I have
been energized by this Christian community life that I am in right now.

The Slaters love to read so I have given Inell some Graham Green and I
am looking forward to talking with her abput them. She isn't anything
like the classical conservative Baptists and she said that conservative narrow
minded Christians are the hardest people for her to interact with. It's the
same with me so hearing that from her was refreshing. I think we have many
more great talks ahead of us.

I have had a chance right from the beginning to be so real with these
people, both the Slaters and the other CBI missionaries that we pray
with on Friday. Praying with people really breaks the walls down. This
intimacy that has developed so quickly has dispelled a lot of my fears and
knowing Inell enough now I think that I don't have to worry that I will end up
offending them and never being told about it.

Church was great today. Brent preached a good sermon on Mark 5. The
singing was fun, the African's know how to speed up those old hymns and
give them a beat. But by far the best part was communion which consisted of
bread, sourdough tasting, and coke. I guess with coke there is less
chance of spreading diseases. I also had to squat over a hole for the toilet
at church today for the first time since I arrived. I look forward to
more of that in the villages. It sounds like I will have some chances to
travel with the family when they go visit the church they worked with in
Kasesa and hopefully a chance to sleep in the villager's homes.

There are a lot of street people here in Kampala and a lot of wooden
shacks and people cooking over open fires. There is a huge need and I have
gotten over whelmed a few times. But, I have to reach out to the people I can
meet and give to.

I have been impressed with the immense worth of knowing and loving God
in this last week and I was reminded of the man who found a pearl of great
price and sold everything to possess it. To know God (in the power of
his resurrection, in the fellowship of his suffering, to be conformed to
his image) is worth everything.

That's all for now. I will keep you all posted. Not much in the way
of thoughts. Just learning things about teaching and styles of
leadership.