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Greetings from Jinja. I would like to share with you what my average Wednesday is like. It has become one of my favorite days here. You'll soon see why.
6:30 a.m. This is Tyler's average waking time. Since Easton was born 3 1/2 years ago we haven't had to have alarm clocks. Tyler has taken over that role now. This is good as it allows some quality family time in the mornings. Easton and Tyler are usually both in their best moods at this time of day.
8:30 a.m. After Briley makes a great breakfast, Easton and I get our bags ready to go for the day. I get my work bag ready and Easton gets his preschool backpack filled up. We head off to preschool and work, usually by foot.
8:45 a.m. We only have to walk a quarter of a mile to preschool (Miss Terri's) but when you're a 3 year old walking there is usually LOTS of distractions. It always takes us at least 15 minutes. We have our traditional hug and kiss goodbye and he's off up the stairs to Miss Terri's preschool.
9:00 a.m. It only takes me another 5 minutes to walk the next quarter mile to The Source and to our church building. This allows me to arrive just in time for our weekly Source management meeting. Usually about 6 of our Source employees, Danny Hardman and I meet for one hour to encourage each other in our work. Discussions swing from running an ISP to the cafe to our Busoga Bible School (BBS). We often share scripture, pray together and each give a report on our prior weeks work and our next week of work ahead of us. This is a great communication and accountability time as we have taken the approach to be a more self-managed team. I believe this may be the most important work I do here. To be able to run these programs successfully means our ministry is more far reaching both in town and in with our village church movement. For instance, Busoga Bible School, our primary ministry that empowers church leaders to strengthen their own churches, is now completely sustained by The Source. These are significant expenses as we now have 2 faithful men on salary to direct BBS as well as The Source paying for all class expenses. The success of The Source also allows the exciting events of Wednesday afternoons. Read on.......
10 a.m. - 1 p.m. This is time spent following up on any outstanding issues brought up in our meeting just adjourned. This is also the time that I let it be known that I am "in the office." I usually field many requests ranging from school fees to medical needs to starting up a business capital needs. Many village church members usually come with needs also. This is part of life in 3rd world Uganda. While it is not easy hearing so many legitimate needs (and hearing from plenty of scam artists) I have found a peace with dealing with them. There is so much poverty here. I am happy I can be a small help to many people.
1 - 2 p.m. Wednesday lunch for all Source staff is always matooke (banana plantains) with groundnut (like peanuts) sauce. This is one of my favorite Ugandan meals and I always enjoy visiting with the other Source employees while eating lunch.
2 - 4 p.m. This is where it really gets good. Every week about 5 Jinja Church leaders invite two local missionaries from Busoga for a meeting. One missionary, Maanda Wilson, is now supported directly by The Source and works part time as an Asst. BBS Director. The other missionary, Stephen Waiswa, has just been taken on by the Jinja Church as their missionary to Busoga. These are very needed missionaries especially as most of our original American mission team has now moved back to the States. (Because The Source provides a low cost meeting area for Jinja Church, it is possible for the church to support a missionary. Without The Source this would be impossible.) For about 1 hour we discuss the village churches they visited last week and any problems / praises that may have come up. We then encourage each other, give advice and pray for these two missionaries as well as the churches and Christians they are teaching. These meetings just began this past month and is a real sign that the Ugandan Christians are taking responsibility both spiritually and financially for a big part of the overall work.
4 - 6 p.m. We usually continue our meeting but shift gears towards a private worship time as a leadership group. We share the Word, pray together, sing praises to God and many times share confession. I believe this is a crucial time for the Jinja Church and village churches. It is a time that we stop focusing on being leaders but instead focus on being children of God. We are an accountability group calling each other towards a closer walk with God. This, again, is one of my favorite times of every week.
6 p.m. I rush home, sometimes riding a boda boda (bicycle taxi for 25 cents) if I'm late, and enjoy another great dinner my wife has made. We usually have another team family or individuals over for dinner and enjoy this meal on our front porch in the cool Lake Victoria breeze. We are so blessed to work with wonderful, talented, and faithful teammates and we enjoy any chance we can to just be with them while the kids play outside.
7 p.m. It is now dark and time to get Easton and Tyler, 15 months, cleaned up and ready for bed. We always enjoy each other as we read our Bible stories, books and sing songs. We know that our ministry here in Uganda is extremely important, however, we realize our greatest ministry is with these two precious little boys that God has blessed us with.
8 p.m. Often times Briley and I will take a deep breath from our busy day and just enjoy catching up with each other. I also use this time to do my studying. As most of you know, I am in an online MBA program with the University of Tulsa. It usually requires 3 to 4 nights of focused study each week. Our family is blessed that I am able to work on this from this side of the world. We realize that it will better prepare our family to be used in God's kingdom after our return to the States next year.
11 p.m. Lights out. Thanks for a great day, Lord.
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