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Langford Letters: Dec 17, 2004 |
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Written by Ben Langford
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Sunday, 19 December 2004 04:20 |
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 Greetings to friends and family,
The past month of November has been a busy one! Here are the highlights from the Langford family.
1. Language and village visits- Ben continues to struggle to learn language. He is probably doing better than he thinks he is but it is like becoming a child that is learning to speak all over again, yet he is 28 years old. However much he seems to struggle, it is a struggle of ministry. Language is ministry! What I mean by this is that life is wrapped up in language. The language of Lusoga is the expression of the Basoga people's lived reality. So the fact that we are attempting to speak and learn their language, means for them that we are attempting to enter into their lived reality. We are attempting to enter into their life! For the Basoga, this is a big deal. Ben also continues to visit churches in the village. So he and teammate Spencer Bogle travel out to the village 3-4 days a weeks and have visited 13 of 60 churches in the Soga region of Uganda. It has been wonderful to spend time and share a meal with so many disciples of Jesus who live out in what seems like the middle of no where. Ben did take a week off from language and village visits in the month of November to teach in the village leadership training program called Basoga Bible School (BBS). He was privileged to teach 22 village church leaders the book of Job. He loved it and he thinks the villages guys thought it was OK as well. Ben is in the process of writing an article for the Jinja team website about this experience of teaching the book of Job to this village church leaders. Check out our website at www.jinjamissions.org and look for Ben's article which is coming soon.
 2. Team Building, thanksgiving, safari- Thanksgiving week, our wholeteam traveled to Mbarara in the western region of Uganda. We were hosted by the Mbarara team, who live and work with the Bayankole people of Uganda. We spent the first part of the week doing teambuilding stuff and learning about all our corky personality traits and how we can combined them all together to make something useful. The Mbarara team was a wonderful resource for us and spent an enormous amount of time and energy helping us think through important team issues before they become issues. We then shared a spectacular thanksgiving meal together, including a turkey brought from the US. We topped the week off with a short day and a half safari at Queen Elizabeth National Park where we saw elephants, hippos, crocodiles, lions and a leopard. It was a long exhausting trip to Mbarara, but well worth it.
3. Life as a family- We are all still getting adjusted to life in Uganda. We are still getting use to the food tasting just a bit different, the smells being so distinct, and the sight of life in the third world. Kym is busy caring for Elijah and organizing the house, while Elijah is busy eating, pooping, grabbing his feet, sucking on anything, bouncing in his Johnny Jump Up, talking baby talk at the top of his lungs, fighting going to sleep, and beginning to eat rice cereal. Just to give you an update on Vanessa (the one year old girl we took care of for one week), we found a Ugandan christian family in her village that is willing to watch her during the day while her father goes and looks for work. It is good that she is back with people from her village. We are really starting to feel the pressures of life and ministry in Uganda. From the poverty, to sickness, to the daily needs and desires of Ugandans for our attention and resources. There is so much here that is just not easy, but love is pushing us along and we are trusting God that He has gone before us and is doing the work in which we are participating. We are thankful for this gift of sharing in the lives of so many who are different than us but in many ways the same. Although we feel very far away from the comfort and familiarity of being with all of you, we feel right at home in God's calling for our lives.
Things to pray for:
Pray for the gift of tongues for us(specifically the tongue of Lusoga).
Pray for our family as we are still adjusting.
Pray for safe travel on the roads.
Pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ in the region of Busoga.
Pray for unity in our team.
Thank God that he cares for all His creation and that He even comes to the smallest villages to be with His people.
Thank you for all your love and support.
Grace and Peace to you all,
Ben, Kym, and Elijah Langford
Check out our new website at www.jinjamissions.org
PO Box 2205
Jinja, Uganda
East Africa
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