Flat Tires

What’s with me and flat tires? At this rate, I will be a mechanic soon. You’d be proud dad. I learn something new about cars each time. Three of the trips I have been on have had either a flat tire, the tire bolts break, or a flat tire and a flat spare. It is because the roads are so rough on the vehicles here. Bummer.





Flat tire on the way to Queen Elizabeth's Game Park.




Tire bolts broke and the tire rolled ahead of us on the way home from Kampala.

Flat tire and flat spare on the way to Jinja.









Everytime we have broken down, God has provided what we needed to continue our journeys.

February Update

Sometimes I envision my life as a picture. I lived my life in a picture of America, then took a step out and stood back to look at where I once was.


January 15th, I visited a church in Bukwo, on the border of Uganda and Kenya, in the mountains. We saw some of the most beautiful scenes from God’s glorious creation. The people there were so kind. We had to leave at 6am, and as early as it sounds, I loved it. The sky was in immaculate layers of blues, pinks, and oranges and the moon was on one side and the sun rising on the other. As I was sitting in church, I realized an unusual concept that would never happen in the states, most likely I was the only one who was fluent in only one language.

We have had several visitors come through lately. Milton and Barbie Jones from Seattle, Washington came to visit the four singles working in Kitale, Kenya. The group (Carrie, Alita, Kelly, Greg) in Kitale are supported by Milton & Barbie’s church, so they came to give encouragement and support for their work with the orphanage in Kitale. Milton also taught a course at the Messiah Theological Institute in Mbale supported by our mission team. David and Lisa Langford are here for a short time of encouragement and support for our team. They are members at Quaker Church of Christ in Lubbock and have been long time friends of our teammates.


The presidential campaigning continues, but has not been too destructive. I had to stop on my way home to avoid going against the crowd. My house the on with the red roof just across the street.





On January 27th-29th, five of us adults and nine kids traveled to Kampala (4 hours away) to record children’s songs which were written by Sue Palin, mother to three of our students. The kids finished the recording a day early, so we had some time to swim and go to the mall. We saw The Chronicles of Narnia movie at the theater in the mall. On Saturday, we were on the road heading home when we felt a kerplunk at the back of the van. Rachel was driving and proceeded to pull over. As she was pulling over, the tire rolled past us on the road. The bolts on the back tire had completely broken in half. While we waited on the other van to bring a mechanic from the nearest town to fix the tire, I showed one of the Africans how to use a jack. He was trying to put it on the muffler to raise the car. We ended up delaying our return and stayed the night in Jinja (two hours from Mbale) with some missionaries who are part of our NTCC (New Testament Churches of Christ) team.

We are in the midst of dry season and Lake Victoria in Jinja is low from the lack of rain. Jinja is our source of power and sells power to surrounding countries, like Kenya. However, it is costing too much to supply power to Uganda 24/7, so they have decided to turn our power off 24 hours every other day.

As I mentioned in my last update, the first Wednesday of every month our team joins in a time of fasting. The first Wednesday in February, Heidi, Jamie, and I decided to drive up Mount Wanale (just up the road from our house) at 5:15am and watch the sunrise. The shades of red and orange that burst through the sky were so indescribable and could only have been created by God. After the sunrise, I was reading Exodus 14. It is the story of the Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea during the night. As the Egyptians sought after the Israelites, the Lord engulfed them in the sea as the day was breaking, at sunrise. When the sunrises, it has a new meaning to me…deliverance. The Lord will deliver us.



Congrats to all the Steelers fans. We had a Super Bowl party at the Tyler’s house and were able to watch the Super Bowl at 2am our time on their satellite television. It was nice to gather with Americans and participate in an activity that connects us to our culture.



Our team is undergoing many changes. Heidi Davison just joined us three weeks ago for a two year commitment. She is a 23 year old single from Independence, Kansas, and is temporarily living with Jamie, Rachel, and I in our four bedroom house. It takes me back long ago to the days of college…or maybe just last year. Mike and Judy Shero have been with our team for three and half years and have recently made arrangements to move back to America. Our NTCC Mbale team now consists of 3 single guys-Chris & Stephan Shelburne & Tyler Hall, 4 single girls- Rachel Corder, Jamie Duncan, Heidi Davison, Rebecca Evans, the Tylers -Shawn, Linda, Noah & Natalie, the Sheros-Phillip, Laura, Malachi, Israel, Analese, and the Shelburnes- Ian, Danetta, Leila, Josiah, Nathanael, Jonathan, Luke, Emily.

God has answered our prayers. We have several who are interested in teaching or working with the team in other ministries in the upcoming months. We are especially interested in teachers as none of the current teachers will be returning to teach in the fall. If you know of anyone interested, send them my email address and I would be glad to give them more information.

Thank you so much for all your prayers, support, and encouraging emails. It is so good to hear from a family of Christians who are so far, yet so close.

In Him who delivers us,
Rebecca

New Do

Check out my new hair do. "When in Africa, do as the Africans do..." Monday morning, 8am, I met a hairdresser who attends Mbale Church of Christ, and went to her house to begin the process. A man from the Congo and a lady from Mbale arrived to begin platting my hair with extensions. The hair was supposed to be half as long as it is now and half as thick. Oh well. I had to sit on the floor for 6 hours, then switched to a chair for the other 6 hours. It was a little sore, but not too bad. They said it could last about a month or more if I take care of it.