2024 April Update

One family from our mission team in Karamoja just left for their six-month furlough. We will miss their experience and wisdom in making decisions as they have been here 12 years now. There is just one other lady, Tina, who will be making decisions with me in Karamoja while they are away. We have a short-term family and a short-term single guy who are helping with maintenance and to keep us company. They have adjusted well and we are grateful for the their presence and support during what will be a challenging time. I am thankful that Chris, as the clinic administrator, and Chloe, as the mission bookkeeper, have both trained Ugandans to help with their work in their absence. Aleper Zakaria and I are managing the clinic work together. I am really thankful for him and we work well together. Actually, he sick today so you can pray for his quick recovery. Eunice lives in Mbale and is helping with some of the financial reports. She is a little more uncertain in her work which requires Tina to spend extra time reviewing reports and helping her reconcile the accounts. It’s not easy from a distance. Please pray for our good Lord to sustain me and Tina in these added responsibilities. 
 

I have had less time to spend with my community health team while learning more about my new clinic role. They are doing well. Naduk just returned from her three-month maternity leave and Opie is about to start her maternity leave. Please pray as Melda and I interview someone to cover her work while she’s on break. I am thankful that they will be able to continue teaching in the villages while I am pulled into the daily work of the clinic more. My research efforts will also take a backseat over the next six months. Everything in its time. 

I’ve had ear pain and jaw pain over the past six months. It’s much better now than it has been, but I still don’t know what is causing it. Thankfully, it’s intermittent now and not as painful. The two are so near each other that we don’t know if the problem started as a wound in the ear canal and an infection spread to the jaw joint, or if inflammation in the jaw caused changes in the tissue leading to damage of the ear canal. I was able to see an ENT (ear, nose, throat) specialist twice who comes to Mbale town every two weeks. I’ve been on steroidal anti-inflammatories, regular anti-inflammatory medicines, and ear drops on and off for four months. We are able to treat the symptoms fairly well, but when I stop the medicine, the problem seems to return. I will try to see a different ENT in Mbale when I go down for a mission meeting at the end of this month. Please pray that we can find out the underlying cause and treat the real problem fully. 

I am thankful that my brother Ben moved to Mbale last month with his wife Heather and youngest daughter Esther. They will be based there, three hours away from me in Nakaale, while Ben travels to countries in East Africa for his work as Regional Foreign Missionary for the OPC. I was able to see them when they first arrived in Mbale to help get them acquainted with the town and I will see them again at the end of April. They are settling in well. Ben will have to wait for his work permit in order to travel out of the country to visit Bible colleges and like-minded churches.

Thank you for your faithfulness in praying over the nearly 15 years that I’ve lived here. I can’t be here without your key role of prayer. It is essential work in missions. 
Eyai Akuj! God Himself is with us!

My community health team: Kocho Betty, Nakut Claudia, Opie Carolyne, Akol Josephine, Nurse Melda, Lodim Moses, and Naduk Luvia.