Hello friends. We are doing pretty well here in Uganda. Our school is closed, but we are communicating with students and have sent assignments for a month. The two teenagers who stay with us on holidays were sent home from boarding school on Friday and will be staying with us for the next month. Their other situations were good experiences during the Christmas holiday while we were in the US, but the social worker decided that right now it would be best for them to stay with us for a variety of reasons. One of our teachers is also with us most of the time because her roommate has been in self-quarantine in their house since traveling to the US. We are happy to have a full house of people to love on, but ten of us in our house doesn’t allow for much time alone. You can pray for us all to find ways for that time alone with the Lord and for us to be gracious and kind to one another even when we don’t get that. I found myself very irritable this morning when the kids were slow in helping out with chores. I needed to step into my room and pray rather than speak out of anger and say things I would later regret. Please pray that I will be able to be gracious and patient with my family, and that I will correct them out of love and a desire for their growth, not out of my irritability. I also desire to focus more on the ways that I do see God at work in and through them rather than grumbling that they are not perfect yet. I certainly am not perfect either. I want to speak “only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29)
One of our teammates is also in the midst of an audit process for GSF and cannot do much school work with her kids at home, so we will probably get to “homeschool” some of her five children along with the seven in our home. I was originally thinking I would have time for writing and editing blogposts to work on a book idea, but as I look at all God has called me to do from home, I’m not sure if there will be time for that. I’m trying to make the most of every opportunity this change in routine brings. It may be that God wants to use this time to help me grow in being gracious toward my family. Ephesians 4:32 says, “ Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.” I know that God is giving many of us around the world more time at home with our families which is an opportunity to show one another the forgiveness we have received through Jesus Christ.
As of tonight, the borders of Uganda will be closed and the airport shut down, but that doesn’t really bother me. We don’t feel any need to travel back to the US since the virus is keeping people from being together there anyway. If we travelled we would be exposing ourselves to more germs and wouldn’t be able to be with our loved ones on that side. It seems like we have plenty that God has called us to do as we stay put, not to mention that Uganda has only one case and the US has many more. I am hoping that this change of schedule makes it easier to find opportunities to video chat with family and friends that side and stay connected in that way. I am thankful that we have so recently visited the US too. Right now we have heard of only one case of corona virus in Kampala from someone who was diagnosed at the point of entry, but we will avoid the big city as much as possible. Uganda is very good at controlling disease outbreaks though, since they have had to deal with Ebola in the past. They are actually one of the most successful countries at preventing the spread of that disease; it was never as rampant here as in West Africa.
It seems like in our years living in Uganda, we have had some practice trusting God with crazy diseases and life being “out of control” in our minds. I’m thankful for the way God uses each challenging situation to teach us that He is in control and we are not. I’m certainly not saying that I have this down, but life here gives me opportunities to practice. I hope you and your families can take comfort from God’s control of all things and his loving care for you in the midst of these challenging times.
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