Finally! A few photos!

A typical home in Uganda.  Mud huts and thatched roofs.  It's pretty incredible that people live in these houses their whole lives and are still very happy.  A good lesson for me about what "well-off" is. 

Elephants!  At the world-famous Safari Park- Kruger National Park.  It was incredible to see African animals in their natural habitat.

"Squatter Camps" in Rustenburg.  Thousands of people living in complete filth...it was incredibly disturbing, humbling, and disgusting.  Tiny metal shacks with no running water, no electricity, animal feces everywhere, extremely high cases of crime and rape, and AIDS running rampant.  It's a breeding ground for diseases also, which fuels the negative effects of a weak immune system from AIDS. 

We helped distribute Medication to AIDS patients in the bush bush of Uganda.

Karabo and I!  She's my favorite precious Orphan from Rustenburg, South Africa...where we were at the beginning of June.

Much Love from South Africa,

Lisa & Keith

Done.

I can’t begin to express everything that’s happened.  We have just finished our “debriefing” where we stayed at a team member’s home in a town called Sabie.  We had two days where it seems we did nothing but talk about what happened.  A dozen hours of talking and we only scraped the surface of what has happened to and through us during the last 12 weeks while on ‘Outreach’ in Uganda and NW South Africa.

            In the end, our team decided that the most impactful things about the whole trip were: Learning how to listen to and abide in God, who we’re discovering is more faithful to us than we have ever imagined.  Truly basing each day on following God’s heart for us has led to an incredible maturation in every individual on our team.  Looking back, most of our memories and significant moments centered around the individuals who we met along the way.  People like Agnes and Martha who have turned their homes into soup kitchens for all the hungry kids they can get a hold of.  And Els, who built an orphanage out of nothing and now is trying to start a hospital.  And Lawrence, who couldn’t believe that we would go anywhere without preaching to everyone present.  And the dozens of other people we bumped into who have dedicated their entire lives to simply loving other people with whatever skills they have.  These people have inspired me by showing the extent that personal talents can be used for. 

            I added up some of the numbers to be able to look back over where our team has been.

Over 3,000 hours of service on outreach.  We preached or performed at over 10 church services.  Worked extensively with 2 orphanages.  Hoe’d 5 large fields.  Got 5 cases of Malaria.  Communicated across at least 8 language barriers.  Organized games for over 1,000 different children.  Distributed ARV medication to about 250 people with HIV.  Began a soccer and Basketball team and appointed coaches that began running the teams before we left.  Saw over 30 people decide to devote their lives to living for Jesus as their Lord and savior.

            The list of ways we served goes on and on.  But compared to the needs we saw in Africa, it felt completely worthless at times.  On one of the last days of outreach we walked through a “Squatter Camp.”  40,000 + people living in abject poverty.  Not even running water or the means to daily food.  We put in hours of work at this camp but felt incapable of doing much to help these people.

Even after serving thousands of people these last months, our team had an overwhelming sense that the most permanent change came in what God did in our lives.  Mostly he showed us all a lot of ways that we could grow up and then guided us towards doing so (miraculously at times).   

So now we’ve just finished relaxing for 4 days.  We went on a safari and saw really big African animals.  We have rejoined all of our other classmates from all over the world in Cape Town, where we’ll spend a final week processing the whole journey of this school before saying goodbye.  We look forward to seeing you all very soon.  

-Keith and Lisa in Africa

Real Toilets

So a lots happened. Lisa got malaria again and actually got sick this time but she's OK. We spent the last 2 weeks in Uganda in Soroti (a town) instead of going to Pader (mud huts in a refugee camp) as previously planned. But we found a refugee camp a quarter mile from the base and made some friends there. Lisa's became pals with a woman named Christine who is a refugee, running from civil war that chased her out of her home town. Christine helped Lisa and some of our other girls run a week long Bible school in the camp. We got to know Christine and her daughter Beatris well throughout the week. After eating and visiting with Christine several times throughout the week, Lisa and i decided to pay for Beatris' school fees for the following year. Beatris has no money (or home/husband) and the total cost of school fees was about 15 U.$.D. for the year.
When i went to the refugee camp for the first time I saw a basketball hoop with no rim attached. This bothered me a great deal. I immediately set about to fix it and in the process met a man named Matthius. He's a full time student, community developer, community council member, youth coordinator, carpinter and war refugee who has lived in a mud hut for 6 years because his home hasn't been safe to go back to. Matthius and I built a basketball court over the next week and by the time i left Uganda, the two of us had gone on the radio, 97.0 fm Delta Radio, promoted basketball in northern uganda, reviewed all the rules of basketball and He started practices with a team he put together. It was glorious.
We're now in South Africa starting a whole new batch of work. It's been a shock coming back into the western world but we're adjusting nicely. Lisa and i spent our first full day here walking around a mall just staring at all the sparkly things for 8 hours.
Lisa and i are doing really well personally. God has been teaching us a lot about our marriage and we've been maturing individually a ton. It's been fun to learn how to treat each other well.
We're excited to be on our way back home soon and can't wait to see yall this summer. Hope to get on the internett again soon...(1 computer for 9 people which is 6 miles away from where we stay). We love you and good day.

MALARIA STRIKES!!!

Yes, that’s right. Malaria has ravaged the team. Even our own Lisa Nelson has fallen victim to the deadly disease. But on an anticlimactic note, Lisa’s malaria was easily treated with a few pills over a few days. Malaria is as common here as a cold. The treatment for malaria has been worse than the actual disease itself.
The team has had an intense week. Most were busy, tired, and homesick. The question, “What are we even doing here?” came up more than once. Many people were content pointing out the problems but didn’t have any solutions, which brought the spirits on the team pretty low. But on Wednesday our team reacted in an inspiring way for me. The leadership on the team put in a lot of time praying, researching and talking, to give the team a stronger focus. We came together to agree that everything we do as a team will be based around the fact that we are here to reveal God and become more like Jesus. We chose Ephesians 5v1 as our foundation and are incorporating this theme into everything we do.
Defining our mission and common inspiration was important for us as leaders to do because as the weeks have gone on, all of us have, to some degree, gotten selfish and disconnected from each other and God. As you might be able to picture, this attitude on “Outreach” led to feelings of discontent to say the least. So we refocused the team on why we are here and everyone followed suit in a mature fashion. Things have been remarkably better since then. I still find it funny how miserable people can get when they focus only on getting what they want. For the last week or so, we’ve been doing the exact same things as before, but it’s all being done with a fresh motivation and it’s made all the difference.
The last week has been great for Lisa and I. We’ve had a lot of fun with each other and doing ministry. We’re still taking care of orphans, bringing food to people in the hospital and meeting folks in the town who have incredible stories shaped by Uganda’s crazy recent history.
Lisa and I have really invested in our team members and the ministry. To work hard at something you believe in gives you a satisfying feeling of tiredness at the end of the day. I feel my energy has been well spent. I’m not sure why, but out of this, Lisa and I have had more energy for each other lately. There’s been a lot of laughing every day and it’s been grand.
I love you all and I’ll leave you with a quote that sums up the African lifestyle and communication that we get the pleasure of navigating on a daily basis.

Lisa- “So I do have Malaria?”
Emaculate (Lab lady) – Nods
Lisa – “What kind of malaria do I have?”
E – “Ha ha ha. It’s OK”
L – “Can you tell me what kind of malaria I have please.”
E – “OK. It’s fine! We are best friends now! Come back any time! J”

We love it!

We’ve been here in Soroti, Uganda for just about a week now and we are really loving the town here and the ministry opportunities that are available here. I cant wait to get into the swing of things and have a consistent schedule. I’m going to focusing on two areas of service and ministry for the next two weeks.

The first area of ministry is working with a Mobile Clinic. Both Keith and I, along with a couple of our teammates, went out to one of these clinics last Wednesday. It was amazing! It was a UN official sort-of day. J We rode in the back of a pick-up for an incredibly bumpy hour-long ride on African “roads”. It was sooo much fun seeing the Ugandan country side from the back of a pick-up…such a fitting way to see a developing African country. We eventually arrived at a rural village where over 100 people were waiting under trees for the medicine that we were bringing. Out job for the next two hours was filling prescriptions for these Ugandan villagers who were suffering from all sorts of problems. The most common illness were: malaria, stomach problems, and HIV/AIDS. I think a lot of the stomach problems probably are a result of the sanitation problems that are pretty much inevitable in much of Africa. They just don’t have running water and don’t have money for soap and most don’t have toilet paper….so you can imagine the diseases that spread just because of a lack of simple things like that. Grandpa, you would’ve been so proud to see me filling prescriptions for these people. I took a picture for you of Pharmacist Lisa in the African bush. J Keith and I are going to do 3 more clinics like these within our two weeks left. I’m so excited. I hope to also bring a message from the Bible next time we go.

The other ministry that I’m going to be involved in is working at an Orphanage that works with babies and toddlers. These children have either: been abandoned by their extended family because they have HIV, their Mother died during child birth, or they have been mistreated by their parents or relatives and needed a safe haven. I will be working on a consistent basis with this Orphanage and I’m so excited to love on these beautiful babies. This Orphanage was started by a Dutch woman and so it’s very well run, tiddy, and precise. I love that things are organized. Haha I can’t stand working for ineffective organizations.

There are tons of mosquitoes here because we’re close to a swamp so please keep us in your prayers and pray specifically for good health…especially that we wouldn’t get malaria from these mosquitoes. God has been protecting us so much while being here, so I am confident that His hand is over us. That brings me an incredible amount of peace through all of the crazy situations that Keith and I are in.

I apologize for not having pictures to post…it’s hard to post them at an internet café with poor internet. J We’ll have LOTS to show you when we return of these places, people, and situations that we’re writing about.

God bless! Much Love from Uganda~
Lisa

Good Frday

Hello everybody. It's Keith this week. Lisa and I have made it back into Jinja for our day off this week. This morning I had cheese and Lisa had meat for the first time in 7 days, and it was glorious!
The last seven days have been incredible. Last weekend was hard for us as nearly everyone on the team struggled with culture shock and homesickness. It lasted about three days for everyone and we got through it as a team. Since that time, everyone has been excited about all the work we've been able to take part in. One particular family that lives next to us, has caught the heart of our team. It's a Muslim family who is struggling financially and has a very sick kid named Abeeba. Someone from our team has visited the family nearly every day to chat and pray for them. Me and the guys from the team cleared the families field and mulched the earth with Ho's all last week. They hope to plant a bunch of corn this season. And just a few days ago, Lisa led the father of the family to accept Jesus as Lord and he devoted his family to Jesus. It was an incredible moment and we are all still praying for Abeeba who is sick in the hospital.
Every day has been full of teaching the Bible and serving the village around the base. But this week has been dominated by planning. We are plannnig a giant easter party for everyone in the village. And we have been discussing going to another village called Pader at the end of the month. In Pader we would live amongst war refugees who have the highest percentage of post traumatic stress out of every people group in the world. We would teach the Bible, hopefully help organize a church there and build a school. As of five days ago I was sure that many members of the team would refuse to go as it would require living in rustic conditions. But in the last few days there has been an incredible change of heart in nearly everyone on the team. It seems that everyone has found peace in putting complete faith in God to guide them anywhere. By "God guiding them" I'm referring to a string of coincidencess that have worked out perfectly in our favor to point us to going to Pader...one of which included a random Asian lady telling our whole team the exact answer to questions we had for God while praying earlier in the day. My stomach dropped while she was talking, i've never experienced anything like it personally. I've always believed in God as an idea....and my life goes well when I pray and do what He says, but it freaked me out when He so blatantly showed up as someone alive who has a relationship with us. Seeing God work in individuals and the team has tearified and comforted me at the same time. I doubt i'll ever be able to wrap my head around it.
Things are going well outside of "ministry time". Our team is pretty cool and navegating international travel with 10 people from six different countries is always interesting. Traveling through this continent has been amazing. Lisa and I hiked a mountain yesterday and looked out over lake Victoria and some of the most beautiful countryside i've ever seen. We also got heckled by baby monkeys on the way down. Lisa and I are having a lot of fun. Things here are tense at times and we get excited about coming home every few hours but overall we're having a blasty blast and laughing together when we're not working together.
I've been especially proud of the role Lisa chose to take in the leadership of the team. She has to fight off the temptation every day to do everything for everyone because, as it turns out, she actually does know how to do everything. But instead of micromanaging the whole trip, she's guided the team through sublte wisdom and impactful relationships. Most of the girls in the school, including the school leader and team leader, have pulled me aside to rant and rave about what an incredible impact Lisa manages to have on them simply through relationship. I think she should be in charge of Washington when we get back...she'll efficiently manage the state through friendships and hugs.
Until then, we'll be in situations that i've been dying to get into for years. Please pray for us. We coud especially use prayer for faith in God that pruduces peace of mind. We love you guys. Good day.
-Keith, writing from the last westernized place we'll see in a month if all goes well :)

In the Heart of Africa

We are here in Jinja, Uganda and it's been a wonderful week thus far! We are living at a beautiful place...large property so it's kinda of like an oasis from the village and city. Keith and I have our own little room complete with a TOILET, which the rest of our teammates are jealous about because they have a ceramic covered hole in the ground to take care of business. One of my favorite things about where we're living is the huge filtered water tank that is 15 feet from our front door! Praise the Lord! It's not cold, but it also doesn't give you the runs...so that's all that matters.

Uganda is absolutely gorgeous. The sunsets are beautiful, the afternoon thunder storms are thrilling, and the lush landscape is quite enchanting. We have goats, chickens, puppies, cows, and geckos in our front, back, and side yard. :) Oh!...and turkeys! We can't forget the turkeys. Their gobbling lulls me to sleep.

My favorite part of the week was visiting and Women's Prison located right next to Lake Victoria. Myself and 3 other girls from our group accompanied a man from Y.W.A.M. who has started prison ministry over the last few years. We taught, chatted, and prayed with 30 women who were in prison. I had a great time praying with Rachel and Josephine. They promised to continue to pray for me as we continued on our journey.

On Wednesday night Keith and I stayed over at a local women's house. The Ugandan people LOVE to be hospitable so we took them up on their offer to join them for evening conversations in their mud hut living room and then stay the night. A giant cockroach stayed the night with us too! We had a great time with our host Irene and her two kids Faith and Joshua. They are 17 years old and 22 years old and served as a translator. They are an absolutely delightful family. We'll have to post some pictures later.

We haven't experienced full-blown culture shock yet, but it'll surely come.

Our entire team is stoked to be here and eager to see how God works throughout our time in Uganda and South Africa. After Easter we will leave Jinja and head NE to Soroti.

I apologize for any typos, I'm in a rush here at the Internet cafe.

Much Love from Africa,
Lisa