Team Work

Greetings from Mbale, a city which is approaching the dry season!

The most recent event has been George and Diana Franklin coming to visit Mbale, set up an office for their eyeglasses, and survey Sudan and hold an eyeglass clinic there. You may remember last fall when SEE Ministries came to Uganda and held several eyeglass clinics. I was able to take a break from school and help out with a few. This year, George and Diana graced me with their presence by staying with me in the Tyler’s home. With Shawn and Linda’s trucks here, I was able to help transport them to the many errands they needed to accomplish while in Mbale for the week. The following week, six people (including George and Diana) went up to Sudan to survey the area for a clinic which will be a cooperative effort from SEE Ministries and FAME (medical mission organization in America). Since there was a limited amount of space, and I had been to Sudan in March, I did not go this time. Being fall break, I did travel to another country. Stay-tuned to my blogspot for that adventure.



This week I will be substituting at the Mission School for Laurie Bates, a teacher who will be in America for the week for her brother’s wedding. I will be teaching her Algebra 2 class and first grade science, along with my Pre-Calculus class. The library at the Mission School is growing and I have enjoyed unpacking boxes and cataloguing the books for the children to check-out.

On Wednesday, I will be attending the monthly MCC (Mbale Church of Christ) Planning Committee meeting. I guess you could say I have taken on the position of MCC treasurer and secretary. It has been nice to be more involved with the church and to get to know the church leaders better. The Planning Committee meetings usually last close to three hours. It is a real cultural experience. The chairperson is currently Noeli, a Kenyan woman who works closely with our team and is an excellent leader within our church. My position is to take notes at meetings and keep track of the finances, pay employees, and take care of other jobs they nominate me for.

Jennifer and I are also making progress on the MTI (Messiah Theological Institute) library. Full boxes of books are still waiting in Lubbock in a storage unit to be sent over for the library. There are so many great Biblical resources in our library. I can’t wait to see it in full swing for students and other interested parties to use. Uganda has a termite problem as some of these creatures have made their way into the library. We are trying to spray regularly to keep these critters out.

As far as team work, the AIDS orphans project is coming along with sixteen children being supported by CRF (Christian Relief Fund). Stephan and Heidi have been working diligently on that project. Jennifer has been working in Kitale, Kenya taking care of the finances for the Children’s Home there. She has also been spending time in Northern Uganda counseling children who have been affected by war. Ian Shelburne has just wrapped up another course week at MTI with twenty-one students attending. He was teaching on Understanding the Bible. Graduation is approaching and I am eager to see the number of students who have completed their required number of courses. Laura Shero’s parents Gilford and Pat Rice have been visiting for a few weeks. I think the grandchildren have sure enjoyed being spoiled by their grandparents. I know I am ready to be spoiled by my grandmother (hint, hint -I am going to be back soon Grandmother!).

Time sure has flown by quickly. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to work with a fabulous team this semester. Just when it seems things begin to slow down, they only speed up quicker. We are anticipating our next quarterly meeting, Thanksgiving Day, and a team retreat within the next month.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” I Peter 5:8-9