A few weeks ago, someone put this sign up along one of our jogging routes:

The arrow on the sign points to this hill which goes up

and up

and up.

We joke that the sign at the bottom is a warning to all those who would tackle the hill. Qyt (or quit) while you’re ahead! 

A few years ago I could barely walk up this hill without getting severely out of breath and wanting to quit. Now, my daughter and I jog it at least once a week. What used to be a daunting obstacle is now a challenge we face intentionally.

Life is like that. It’s like that for everyone, but often those challenges are worse for missionaries living overseas. Several months ago I wrote a post about culture stress. I wrote another about staying relevant when you live overseas. 

In the interest of full disclosure, we are not, nor have we ever been contemplating quitting anything here in Uganda. But that doesn’t mean we don’t face times of discouragement or challenge. Everyone does. It’s part of life.

It’s kind of like this hill. Life’s challenges rise up in front of us. They are daunting. We don’t know if we can get through them. Yet, there they are and they must be faced. 

What You Should Do When You Want To Quit

1. Slow Down

When Jesus was facing his sacrifice for us on the cross, he took time alone in the garden to pray. He stopped all outward activity. He kneeled down. The struggle was still there. (He was in agony and sweat great drops of blood!) But He took time apart to refocus on His father’s will. (Luke 22:41-44)

When facing the above hill, I must slow down. Sure, I could sprint up it full speed, but if I did that I might not be able to finish. 

When I’m faced with a challenge in life, it helps to slow down and refocus on my heavenly Father and His will for me.

2. Allow Yourself to Contemplate Quitting

Wait! Don’t stop reading now! Contemplating quitting isn’t the same as quitting. 

Jesus, when faced with the cross, asked God to remove the cup of His suffering from him. (Luke 22:42) Jesus is God and even He felt like quitting!

When I first started jogging up that hill, I couldn’t do the whole thing without a break in the middle. It took months to reach the point I could run up without stopping to walk. For months after that, I’d get two-thirds to the top and my body would rebel against my efforts. My hip flexors would cramp, I’d come right to the edge of an asthma attack. I wanted to quit. I thought about walking the rest of it. 

Sticking through life’s challenges is a mind game, just like jogging up that hill was a mind game for me. Sometimes we give ourselves a mental edge when we *stop* fighting. 

If I quit, what would I have? What would I do if I quit doing this? What would the consequences be for me? For other people? 

Every time, EVERY time, God brings me to the point of seeing that what I need is NOT to quit. What I need is a mental break from the challenge. It was the same for Jesus before the cross. God sent angels to minister to Him. (Luke 22:43)

Sometimes simply contemplating quitting gives that needed mental break. Then we can refocus on God and His will and realize it’s not really what we want.

3. Pray

Jesus prayed in the garden before His crucifixion. He encouraged His disciples to do the same. Prayer refocuses us. Our vision shifts from ourselves and our problem or challenge and comes to rest on God, who is greater than any challenge. (Luke 22:40)

4. Take the Next Step

When I’m jogging up that hill, I don’t have to jog the whole thing at once. I do it one step at a time. All I have to take is the next step. Every step may be a challenge but each one gets me closer to the top.

So it is with life. We don’t have to face the whole challenge at once. We just have to do the next thing. Then the next. Then the next. It’s simple and it’s hard. 

For Jesus, this meant facing the man who’d betrayed Him. Sometimes, for us, it means choosing victory over defeat. It means choosing forgiveness over bitterness. It means choosing to hope instead of doubt or fear. It means choosing joy over discouragement. It’s simple and it’s hard. But it’s one step at a time.

5. Victory Breeds Victory

Every time I succeeded in getting up that hill made it easier to run up it the next time. Now, years into adding it into our weekly routine, I don’t even think about it. My mind goes to that place where I’m not thinking about my feet and what they are doing. I think about the song in my earbuds. I think about a story I’m writing. I think about the little kids yelling at me as I jog past. Once, a good friend of ours drove past in his car and had to honk to get my attention. I was so far into the zone I didn’t notice him.

Every time we face our desire to quit and come out victorious, we make it easier to face it with victory the next time. Victory breeds victory. Every right choice is easier the next time. Step by step, we find ourselves on the other side of the problem or struggle and now we can see it from above, from God’s perspective. We can face the next challenge from a place of victory. 

How can we have this victory? How can we walk in it? We have it because, when faced with His greatest challenge, Jesus chose to face it and walk through it. We have victory through His victory. 

It’s been a gut and heart wrenching week of ups and downs for the well digging project at Sangano

You might remember a few weeks ago I shared that we’d made arrangements with a local company to do the survey and find out if there was any water in the area. The company, Water Solutions, arranged for the survey right away.

There are specific criteria that must be met before they can survey for the well. They can’t dig the well anywhere near any pit latrines, for instance. There was a narrow area of land where the surveyor could use his equipment. His report came back that the ground penetrating radar had shown several features indicating the presence of water. We could dig and hope to find water if we went deep enough.

Nothing ever works quite like you plan it here. The boring machine needed a new part before they could begin. The company had to order it from Kenya. Customs held them up at the border with it for three weeks. They didn’t even start digging until this last week.

The first day, they weren’t able to start until the surveyor arrived to show them the spot. They started digging. They reached the level at which he’d first seen indication of water. Nothing.

They tried a second location. Still nothing.

They dug deeper. The boring machine reached mud and some muddy water. But no matter how deep they went, there was no clear, drinkable water, nothing that could be pumped out of the ground.

It appears that the severe drought experienced by that region, coupled with the large amount of refugees in the area has used up all the available water table.

I cannot express the level of discouragement we’ve felt the last few days.

Our people had hope that they’d no longer have to go without water. Our people were eager that this privation would be over as soon as the well was installed. But they can’t use what isn’t there.

We had hoped that some suffering could be alleviated with this well. We’d hoped this would cut down on the sickness and diseases that come from drinking dirty water. We have to take medicine out for these illnesses, knowing full well the people will have to go back to drinking bad water and will get sick again.

Right now, we’re waiting to hear from Water Solutions. They’ll be refunding part of the money we paid since they didn’t find water. Then we’ll look into buying water reclamation tanks and setting up guttering in time for the rainy season. The people can collect rainwater in preparation for the next dry season. But the rainy season won’t be here for almost 2 months.

Please pray for our people not to be discouraged – that God will give them hope. Pray for another good rainy season and that it will start earlier than expected for the refugee camp.

Right now, our prayer is that our Water of Life, Jesus Christ, will give us wisdom as we seek to help these people with one of their most basic needs and in so doing, doors will be opened to reach them with the Eternal Water so they’ll never thirst again.

Church in Uganda is always interesting and lively. Every week, I’m thankful that I get to be a participant. Here is a video with a glimpse into an average trip to church on Sunday.

 

It’s almost been a year since we got back to Uganda from furlough. As I think back over the last couple years, here are some things that came to mind…

On Staying Relevant

We were stuck in Egypt. The man we’d hired to take us to the airport hadn’t shown up at the appointed time. Turns out, because it was Ramadan, he’d passed out on the way to get us and had to be taken to the hospital. 

I messaged my family about our quandary. My sister messaged back “Too bad you can’t call an Uber.”

An Uber? What was an Uber? I’d never heard of it before. So I asked. And she explained it. She was gracious. It hadn’t been a thing the last time I was in the US.

*     *     *

We hadn’t been in the States long when I needed to make a Walmart run. I found what I needed and made it to the cash register to pay without crying or having to ask for directions.

I hadn’t used a debit card in years. (Where we are in Uganda is cash only. I’m not aware of any stores in our town that take debit cards as payment. We used to have one but it closed.) 

I thought I knew what to do. I swiped my card. “Please insert card in the chip reader” came the error message.

“You can’t swipe it. You have to insert the chip,” said the lady at the checkout.

“I don’t have a chip,” I said. “All I have is this card.”

“No. The chip. The chip there on the card.” She rolled her eyes and walked around the counter. “Here, let me.”

Then she showed me how to use a chip reader. While everyone behind me also rolled their eyes and groaned. I didn’t blame them.

*     *     *

I needed a dish drain rack while in the US. In Uganda, I know of at least 5 different stores where I can buy one. But I stood in Walmart for a long time contemplating in which department I’d find it. I finally ended up wandering the aisles until I located them.

You see, dish drain racks are sold in plastics stores here, not in housewares stores.

You buy eggs at the gas station or hardware store. (You can get them at the grocery store, but you pay more there.)

You can buy hair dye and sewing supplies at the convenience “store” up the road.

To shop in Uganda, you have to think outside the box. It’s difficult to begin thinking inside the box again when you visit the US.

*     *     *

The term “fast food” in Uganda is a misnomer. “Fast food” here takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to receive once you’ve ordered it. We get around this by getting the phone number for our favorite places and placing an order a couple hours early so it’s done by the time we’re ready for it. 

The first time we ordered food in the US after living in Uganda for a few years, it came out in less than 30 minutes. 

“Did they even cook this?” I blurted before I even thought about it. We’d gotten so used to the wait, that it seemed abnormal to not have to wait very long.

*      *      *

We’re always surprised by the pace of life in the US. 

Everything moves slower in Uganda. You learn to expect it. Most people don’t rush around to do anything. You can get things done “now” — sometime in the future, eventually — or “now now” — they’ll be working on it in the next hour or two. If you rush around and try to do things at your own speed, you get frustrated. Consequently, you learn to do everything slower.

You learn not to arrive “on time” because “on time” here is at least an hour after the time they told you on the invitation or schedule.

You learn to talk slower because people can’t understand your accent and you struggle to understand (or pick) theirs.

Evenings are spent at home with family. You don’t go anywhere after dark because it’s not safe. There aren’t street lights so you really don’t see pedestrians or cows until you’re right up on them and it’s too late.

Then you reach the US where “on time” is 20-30 minutes early. People talk so fast you can’t hear them fast enough. You have one event after another scheduled throughout the day and into the late evening.

It’s overwhelming when you’ve adjusted to something else. Just simply driving after dark is terrifying when you haven’t done it for years.

*     *     *

There are also adjustments when we’ve been in the US and come back to Uganda. When we arrived back after our last furlough, we found out the water company was having problems. We were without water more times in the first 3 months of being in Uganda again than we had been the entire 6 years previously put together.

A grocery store we liked (because they sometimes carried items geared toward foreigners — like Chinese food) closed.

The internet, which had always been iffy before, was rarely faster than the old dial-up speeds from the 1990s. Sometimes it was off for days and weeks at a time.

The roads in our area had deteriorated to the point they were more pothole than road.

Uganda was still in a drought. Our once-green mountain was dry and brown. This lasted until we’d been back in Uganda for almost 4 months.

The changes were jarring. It took us longer to adapt back to life here than we would have liked. 

*     *     *

So, when you encounter a missionary and they seem clueless or uncertain, try to be understanding. They may not have any idea what is going on and are just winging it. Take a minute to let them catch up. Ask if they have any questions. Spell everything out, even if you think they should understand it. They might not. 

They may be overwhelmed by everything around them. By everyone around them. They may not be handling how fast everything moves. They might feel like crying every time they look at the available choices everywhere they go — from Walmart to restaurant menus. 

Because there’s always a learning curve to staying relevant to your culture of origin when you’ve been away from it for a while. And there’s always a learning curve coming back to your host culture.

I haven’t posted a blog update in a while. Sometimes (thankfully!) things go smoothly and we don’t have anything unusual happen. We keep pretty busy with living life as a general rule. It’s nice when the car works, church services go smoothly, and nothing unexpected happens. Here are a few of the things we’ve had happen in the last couple weeks. Not enough for a blog post on their own, but each significant in its way.

A Fence for Kabazana

A couple weeks ago the folks at Kabazana got in touch with James. The next door neighbor to the church had been grazing his cows on the church property. The church people had planted beans there and then put up a hedge (that wasn’t yet very big). He turned his cows loose in there anyway and the cows ate the beans. 

Through a course of events, the local chairman got involved. He told the church people they had to let the man graze his cows there. Turns out, the neighbor had bribed him with a cow. 

We started asking around to figure out what legal measures we needed to have in place so the chairman couldn’t do this. Meanwhile, they went to talk to the chairman’s boss. That man had heard good things about the church. And he hadn’t been bribed. He issued a certificate, like an occupancy permit for the property there. He said the church was allowed to fence in their property and keep the cows off.

The next week, we put up a fence. Well, the church people did. 🙂 It’s a simple structure, just poles and barbed wire. The plan is for the hedge to grow up along the barbed wire. It will provide a place for the church people to grow things and hold classes without having to dodge, well, cow mess.

A Well for Sangano

When we were in the US we raised money to put in wells at our churches. God provided enough for one well. After several very bad dry seasons, everyone could see the need for better access to water.

Our only struggle was finding a place who would dig the well for a reasonable price. We found a place in Kampala but they wanted $2500 just for the survey (they use ground penetrating radar to locate water and see how deep it is and how much water is available). That price seemed high to us, so we kept looking.

Not long ago, a “Water Solutions” place opened in our town! They dig wells and boreholes, among other things. We stopped in there to talk with them about our need at Sangano. They can do the survey for 1/4 of the price the other place gave us! Not only that, because they are in our town, they are close enough to do maintenance easily and inexpensively. We’re hoping to hear back about the survey early this next week!

Medicine for Everyone

It’s the end of the rainy season here. We’ve had a great rainy season and the crops look wonderful. But a good rainy season also means more mosquitos. They always get frantic when the rain stops and malaria cases shoot up.

God provided a gift this month that was enough, not only to put up the fence at Kabazana, but also to buy medicine for our church people. We know of quite a few cases of malaria and “flu” out there right now so we’ll be taking a supply to each of the churches on Sunday.

Last Sunday, Esperanza told me she’d hurt her back and needed something for the pain. She also needed food and charcoal. We feel that 1) God commands us to care for widows and 2) that care is supposed to come through the local church. So we gave money to the church leaders to get her the things she needed immediately. We’re taking the medicine for her back on Sunday. (Frankly, when I reach 105 years old like Esperanza, I hope back pain is my only complaint! This sweet lady walks to and from church every week.)

A Church for Isanja

The church at Isanja hasn’t weathered the rainy season well. While it hasn’t fallen down like the church at Ngarama did last year, it is slowly deteriorating. Large cracks have formed at one end of the church. You can see through to the outside. If they get a bad storm (which sometimes happens at the beginning and end of the rainy season) that end of the church will probably fall down.

We’re praying, along with the church people, that God provides for their church to be rebuilt. It’s quickly becoming urgent.