Stepping back into civilization

Greetings from Soroti....Sunday and Monday were our last days in the village. We had a very long church service on Sunday with over 70 baptisms before the message by the bishop who came from Soroti to camp out with us. I should mention that Susan was invited up and asked to provide special music for the service. Lani graciously stepped in to help turn an impromtu solo into a duet, while I, attempting to recover my composure gamely stepped up to the keyboard and accompanied them on an unforgetable rendition of Jesus Loves Me. More on that later...
Yesterday morning (Monday) we broke camp and then the team divided...one group went to the village for a final clinic and the other went to the military camp to provide medical care for the soldiers. We pulled out of Nakayot just before noon for what we thought was a 2 1/2 hr journey to Soroti....we were just imagining sleeping on a mattress instead of rocks and having running water! However our trip ended up with our arrival 11 1/2 hrs later due to mechanical problems with one vehicle, which we had to tow nearly the entire trip (can't tell you how many times the ropes broke!). But God protected and got us thru...and we had a good rest.
We've just completed post-mission evaluation sessions with CLIDE and they were very positive. I'll go for now...we still have a lot of sorting out of things ahead of us today before our trip to Kampala tomorrow.
Thanks for your continued prayers for us and the new believers in Nakayot! Janelle & all

From Janelle on Saturday

Janelle called from Karamoja land today. They are now concluding the medical and evangelistic outreach....close to 500 have come to know the LORD. There was a baptism planned for Sunday morning. It has been a good week, although physically VERY challenging. The rain and the mud was difficult to contend with. But as Janelle said, now that we have the hang of it, things are working better. Pray as the team finishes their ministry and start their travel home. They will arrive in Portland on July 29th. Thanks for praying....

One more note from Janelle

Janelle called her family this morning and here are some of the updates she gave: It rained again last night which once again made for almost no sleep. They are all sleeping in bughuts covered with tarps only and it is wet and muddy. The clinic rained out today, but they were looking forward to the graduation of the Health workers that they have trained to happen tonight. Dr Simon, a friend of Dr Will's from Kampala came and joined them in this medical and evangelistic outreach. They have seen many people....and many, many have responded to the Gospel from that particular Peace Village. Now comes the real challenge for the local CLIDE team to follow up all these new believers. Janelle said that in light of the fact that there is so much positive response to the Gospel and to the medical help and the good training of the health workers, the hardships are ok. But they are tired....and it has been a little rough.
We will keep our team in our continued prayers!!!

An Update from our Team in Uganda

Jim Rosser (who works with the CLIDE Assistance Team here in the States, and attends Good Shepherd) shares: "At 8:15 This morning I received a call from Dr. Moses in Uganda. I returned the call on my Magic Jack so there was no cost to them. Spoke with both Moses, Janelle, Susan and Lani. Spirits are high. Today is their third day and the people were much calmer and they saw about 200 people. Dryer weather is helping to dry their luggage. There is an evangelical team going out door to door tomorrow. There is some competition between the Adventist who have a farm in the area and they are drawing people to the farm. Lani is doing fun things with the kids. Playing soccer and doing Bible stories. Moses said she has been important to the trip. A very good idea. Talked with Lani and we joked about communication being difficult, but the kids are having fun. About 20 people are being Baptized tomorrow- if they can find water. It may not be a baptism by full emersion, but by bottled water. The Spirit is moving. Spoke with Susan and she is also doing well. Long days and they are tired at the end of the day. Morning prayer starts in the dark and by the time it is concluding the sun is coming up. As Janelle said it is Morning Glory. Janelle needs specific prayer as her knee is stiff and more painful. They need prayer about the door to door outreach. Pray for those being baptized tomorrow. Pray about God using the Adventist for His will. Pray for continued health. Pray for the families they have left behind. Give Praises for strong joyful spirits, for team unity and for those coming to Christ. The team is seeing Healing happen physically and spiritually."

Today- Monday

Today, Monday, we are praying for the team as they should have started the training of the health care workers in the peace village. Pray for good communication, awesome translation, and a strong sense of unity with the local team members. Pray for strength, stamina, health and discernment. Pray for continued joy and God's protection on this medical and evangelistic outreach. Pray that many will come to faith as our team serves along with many national workers. Continue to pray for Janelle's knee, for complete healing.

Friday and the Weekend

Depending on access to the Internet, the direct reports from the team might be more sporadic...in the meantime, we continue to pray and "follow" their adventure based on the Prayer Calendar you all got before the team left. So, as it is Friday today, we know that the team traveled up country today. PRAY as they unite with the local CLIDE team...and get ready on Saturday to travel out to the villages and to start setting up camp and get ready for medical ministry and outreach. PRAY for wisdom, and insight as they work together with many local brothers and sisters. PRAY for great joy as they serve the people in this area of the country.

...and a little PS from Janelle

The final pill count when we finally crawled away from the packing table this evening was 37,000. These were counted and put into individual tiny ziplok bags. Susan will probably tell you she counted 35,000 of them herself, but don't believe it. We were blessed to be able to do this work in a clean, well lit place and will be so glad when we are out in the villages in the coming days not to have to be counting these pills in the dark.
We're just getting ready now (10 pm) to load up the land rover that will be taking all the supplies and our stuff up to Karamoja. We have an early morning MAF flight and will be reunited tomorrow evening with our driver who is a Christian brother from here. Pray for him as he has a long, rough road trip tomorrow.
In other great news today, we learned that Dr. Simon will be joining our team on Monday. He is a Ugandan physician friend of Dr. Will's. We've not been sure of his availability due to other commitments. We're so thankful that God has opened the door as our dream from the beginning was that we would be a combined team with Ugandan medical staff. We're all appreciating Dr. Will who is such a hard worker with a servant's heart. We're missing Dr. Bob, but know he's praying for us often.
Keep praying for unity for us as we join the local ministry here tomorrow. We're so looking forward to being with them again!

A Note from Susan

Susan just sent this note to her prayer partners and friends.... we decided to post it to let you all in....here we go:

"We made it here w/o problem. Janelle's limping & crutches got us to the front of a few lines at the airports. We saw Don at the airport in Kampala meeting his daughter. We are enjoying our stay at the MAF guest house here in Kampala. Yesterday we purchased medical supplies and today we're organizing them into individual doses. We went out to dinner with last year's driver, John; had a great visit with him. Today Pastor John came to visit us & is helping us count pills. So far we're enjoying ourselves. Its pretty here & there are flush toilets; pure luxury :-). As we're putting the meds in little bags, I'm striving for the title of "bag lady of the year", but Janelle keeps mixing my bags with everyone else's. She says she doesn't want me to get proud, but I think she'd just be jealous if I started flaunting my new title."

Great Day

The team has had a great day here! Thanks for your prayers. Our biggest danger at the moment is the traffic here in Kampala...oh my goodness. Amazingly there doesn't seem to be accidents. I think of it similar to going on a really scary ride at Disneyland (which I never do)....you feel as though something very bad could happen any second, but it doesn't. There's definitely a method to it and everyone seems to be able to anticipate the others moves. Amazing.
We picked up a large order of medicines and supplies that Dr. Will ordered via the internet a month or so ago, as well as a variety of other errands around the city today. The weather is very tolerable at the moment; feels cooler than last year.
We had an unexpected surprise when Dr. Daniel and his new wife Rachel turned up at the guesthouse this afternoon and we were able to have a great visit. They are from Oregon and we've enjoyed getting to know them at recent CAT meetings. They are currently raising support to move to Uganda planning on joining the work up in Karamoja (Peace Villages). They have been out for a visit and are now traveling tomorrow to Mombasa to join other missionary veterinarians for the CVM retreat.
Everyone has gone to bed, except for me...weirdest thing. I slept little last night as my brain couldn't quite be convinced that it needed some down time. I never got tired today and it's nearly 1 am and I'm still fine. For those of you praying for my injured knee, thank you. It's doing well; certainly no worse for wear with the long trip. We heard that a hike is planned for the team (maybe to neighboring villages) next week, so we'll see how that works out for me :o)
More soon....big day of packing supplies is planned for tomorrow. Warmly, Janelle

Arrived

At 2:30 Tuesday afternoon (our time) Janelle writes from Uganda: "We just arrived at the MAF guesthouse, about 27 hours after leaving you at the airport. Too tired to try and post anything, but thanks for your prayers. Our travel was safe, comfortable and non-eventful. So much fun to see Don at the arrival area here tonight. My knee is holding up well, and we are all ready for some good sleep. Thanks to everyone who came and prayed and saw us off at the airport!"

The girls are off to Uganda. Susan, Lani and Janelle and their traveling friend Bremen at the airport this morning. We are praying for safe travel, good connections and arrival of all their luggage. PRAY for God to use this team in a mighty work as they serve together with our friends in Uganda.

The 2011 Uganda Medical Team

Another MEDICAL team will soon be leaving to serve among the Karamojong people. We will post pictures and try to update this blog as we receive news from them. They will be leaving on Monday, July 11. They share:

“PRAY as we leave for Uganda on Monday, July 11 for a medical/evangelism outreach in a very remote village in NE Uganda. We had a short visit there last year & the people were so desperate. This year, we are planning to stay there, doing medical training for the village health workers in the mornings with practicums (clinics) in the afternoon, integrating evangelism throughout. Pray for SAFETY, adapting, team unity, and our families at home.”