Author or editor, which will it be?

If any of you are like me, sometimes you become exhausted with how difficult it can be taking things you know to be true, in theory, and connecting them to your heart.  You can know something in your head, but that doesn’t mean you believe it with all that you are.  I wrestle with this constantly. I know things about God, about his love, grace, and mercy, yet somehow they feel distant.  In my head I know he is good, faithful, and just, but sometimes those words lose meaning as I repeat them over and over and still struggle to experience them.  

This week at church my pastor made an analogy about how our understanding of God as the author of our lives and our salvation is often replaced with an understanding of him as an editor.  I realize many of the truths of God and his promises for me feel distant because I have failed to see God for who he truly is.  Instead I have been chasing the ideas of a god who conforms to my will.  I look at God as an editor, though he is an author.  I look at God as a safety net or a “plan b” for when my plans fall apart, not as the Savior of the world through whom all things were created, through whom all things are held together, and to whom I should surrender everything with joy.  Somehow I have created a perfect world in my mind, and I only want to give enough control and influence to God for revision and minor corrections.  Somehow the knowledge that God is good, sovereign, and that he loves me has again missed my heart and I remain unable to see that his plans are far better than mine will ever be.

It is for seasons like this I am grateful for the community that God places in my life to remind me his plans for us are so good.  More and more I realize this is not something unique to me and my story, but really anyone who follows Jesus is brought to a place where they realize the plans God has for them really are good, but they are also impossible to attain without him.  We so badly want to rely on our own reservoirs of strength and love, and the more God calls us to follow we see how limited our resources are.  This story we continue to write with us living out of our own strength, will not simply be edited by our Lord of infinite strength, love, and mercy.  Nor will he be harsh and condemning when we see him as he is, the author.  Instead it will be his great joy to write and rewrite our plans giving us unlimited access to his kingdom and his love.

I think for us at Switchboard, we are learning this as God continues to reveal his heart for us and for our organization.  Sometimes trying to keep things simple, “nothing fancy… just Jesus”, can become quite complex when we let good things take our focus from the things God longs to give us if we would just open our hands to receive them.  Sure, life in Christ is more than simply opening our hands, but that is where it starts.  It starts by seeing, and believing, Jesus is who he says he is.  The rest is a beautiful journey in which Jesus doesn’t just command our surrender, but he shows us why our surrender becomes the safest and most satisfying place in the entire universe.  And although it is safe and satisfying, it will seem like the most unnatural, backward, and upside down journey.  At times it will be exhausting, frustrating, and painful, but it will be so good and so full of life changing grace, radical forgiveness, and unthinkable redemption that we on our own could never dream up.  It will remind you his plans for us will always be far greater than we could ever write into the scripts of our lives, if we would only see him as he is.  

As things in Uganda continue, and as things in Nashville develop, this is our song and prayer and we invite you to join us in the journey if you haven’t already.  Join us in praying that we would see Jesus for who he is, not who we project him to be, and that we would be obedient to follow him has he writes the greatest and most adventurous love story we’ll ever know.  He is the author, he is the perfecter, he is the Lord and he is good.  May we rest in our knowledge of who he is, and who we are in him.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that in did not know him.  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. –I John 3:1-2

Sometimes you just can't find the words....

"How was Africa?"

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that question in the last few weeks I’d still be broke.  Not because I haven’t been asked this question dozens of times a day, but because nickels aren’t really worth all that much anymore.  But if you gave me a dollar, now we are talking. Even though conversations have been frequent, I feel I have a different answer for nearly every person asking about our time in Uganda. It seems like such a simple question, yet there has not been one simple answer.  The truth is, time in Africa seemed to cover the whole spectrum of experiences and emotions.  It was just as exhausting as it was restful, challenging as it was encouraging…  humbling yet affirming, chaotic yet peaceful.  There is no single word, statement, or rambling thought that would adequately describe the last few months of our lives.  Still I constantly find myself saying, “Africa was good, so good.”  It appears in my effort to say everything, I end up saying nothing at all.  I know I can’t speak for my entire team, but trying to sum up the six weeks we spent in Africa doesn’t seem possible.  And even though it’s a bit overwhelming in terms of the overall experience and everything learned, there have been a few stories that have been constant in conversation which truly remind me how good our time in Africa was and that these are memories I’ll continue to learn from for the rest of my life.

A lot of these memories came while distributing Bibles to various communities, visitors, families, and churches.  I saw a hunger for the written Word of God that I long for in my own life.  More often than not Bibles were received with a joy I had never seen and have yet to experience.  For decades many of the men and women in this community have heard much about Jesus and have listened to His words read aloud from scripture, but never were they able to read and study these words for themselves.  I was reminded how even without scripture God is actively pursuing the hearts of men and women worldwide because of the promises of His love.  Yet in my own life, when I have access to seven or eight different translations, there are times when my hunger to know him and to study his word simply isn’t there.  I’ve never been deprived of access to God’s Word.  I have never once sang and danced when one of the dozens of bibles in my possession was given to me, nor have I been brought to my knees in thankfulness for having the freedom to explore his endless mysteries in my own time.  
 

Every Tuesday people would come from all over Parwech to help dig in the community
garden, on this particular day we were able to deliver Bibles to them and witness some of
their joy and thankfulness in receiving their gift.  Truly amazing.

Though my experiences with the Word of God have been quite different in America, this was and will always be one of the most valuable gifts of perspective in my own life.  I have had many reasons to sing and dance before the Lord, and to kneel before the Lord with overwhelming thankfulness in my heart.  Yet it reminded me how God is actively pursuing us, all of us, everywhere.  Beginning with the distribution of Bibles, but clearly present in all of our projects, the words of Isaiah 55 came to life.   It was almost as though they stepped directly out of the pages as we continued to read and pray these words over our community.  Not only does God long to satisfy our hunger and our thirst for purpose and satisfaction, He longs to give us the best He has.  He longs to be fully known and fully trusted.  He longs to establish us and to use us to bring all people into a true understanding of his love, forgiveness, and His fullness of life, and He never wants us to feel as though it is ours to do alone.  God never sends us out to complete a task outside of His presence; He is always inviting us into deeper levels of trust as we participate with Him in the fulfillment of His promises.

In reality, God doesn’t need me for anything.  I learned that well.  In fact I am sure God could do the work I did much better if He did it without me, but for some reason He waits patiently for my participation.  Then He waits patiently again and again as I learn the simple, beautiful, and the sometimes-painful truth that His ways and His thoughts are infinitely better than mine and there is nothing I can do to keep Him from doing that which He wills.  Though our plans were loose to begin with, God slowly pulled our grip from even the littlest of things only to give us bigger and better ones.  We could not have planned for the home visits made by strangers who came to our homestead almost daily and we had no idea there were dozens of young men gathering to play soccer nearly every evening just five minutes away.  Though certain things seemed to come with their fair share of speed bumps, there were others moving with a great deal of momentum and excitement.  The community garden is being forced to face a lot of changes in the near future, hopefully all for the best.   Yet outside of our previous knowledge there are pastors leading their own community gardens and planting their own churches not far from where we work, and all they truly need are a few resources and people to encourage them.

 

Denis, Nicole, Jana, and Cesar in Lalogi while we waited to see our friends
participate in the local Music Festival for the nearby primary schools. 

Even among all the really good things, we still had our personal ups and downs.  Cultural differences were a constant challenge and reminded us of how little we can control.   We had our individual struggles with Jesus, with trust, with fear and despair, and in all things He constantly reminded us of His everlasting and steadfast love.  More than once I found myself incredibly grateful for the safety of the community He had given me so I could be lost and confused, and for giving me friends who would challenge me to be prayerful, humble, and confident in the words of Jesus.  In our confusion and sorrow, He was our help.  Though we had goals and projects, much of our time was open-ended and many of our plans changed.  It was almost daily we were reminded that our willingness to be interrupted was necessary for God to work in the midst of our organized chaos.  In our fear He was our saving grace. In our despair He restored our hope.  In our insufficiencies He was everything we couldn’t be.  In our impatience, He was perfectly patient.  Personally, and I would say collectively, Uganda presented many challenging and uncomfortable moments that at the time seemed unwanted.  Yet in looking back, the difficulties helped create much needed space in my life for God to teach me sweet truths about Himself and about how much He loves His people.  Though I’m never excited, or prayerful, for God to give me more difficult situations, I have come to appreciate just how much Jesus loves to walk with us in tough times revealing to us portions of His heart. 

Now that I’ve made a second effort to say “everything”, when it comes to the finer details it still remains as though I have again said nothing at all.  There are still so many stories to be shared and lessons learned.  The times in our huts late at night with our team and translators, traveling together and individually to different homesteads or visiting different communities, one on one time with the kids in the village, or getting mobbed by dozens of little smiling faces, playing soccer, passing out Bibles, surviving the Antpocolypse, digging in the garden, trading shoes, trapping Francis the rat, and walking the long dirt roads…  So much happened in such a short window of time. At times it was difficult, and other times it was easy, but Africa was good… it was so good.  Still, there will never be enough words to truly collect all of my thoughts, but for that I am grateful.  And for that, we are so grateful for your support and your prayers. You’ve not only encouraged us, but you have absolutely participated in very real and necessary ways as the Switchboard story continues to unfold. We have been so encouraged by you, and so have our friends in Uganda. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your love, and thank you for your endless support. 

Josh, Cesar, and Bryan found got sidetracked in one of the classrooms, what started out as
one white guy and two little African boys turned in to "Three Mizungus", or three white guys.

Before I conclude, there is still so much to pray for and we ask that you continue to support us prayerfully as Switchboard continues to grow:

• Please continue to meditate over and pray through Isaiah 55 as we wait to see what the Lord will do through the things he has already established, and for the Bibles that have been distributed throughout the community.  Pray for the people of Parwech, that God would raise up leaders and men of peace in their community who love him deeply and long to make much of him.
• Pray for our Uganda Director, Walter, and his family.  A few weeks ago Walter and Jennifer suffered the loss of their newborn son.  Pray for peace and comfort as they mourn the loss of their baby boy.
• Pray for us and our leaders, pray that God gives us clear direction as we continue to seek His guidance for our projects in Uganda, and for the development of discipleship opportunities here in Nashville.  Pray for eyes to see the world as He does, for ears to listen to His prompting, and for obedient hearts.  Pray that we grow in love for the Lord and for His kingdom.
• Pray for continued trust in his provision, especially as projects grow and with that our needs.  He has been faithful to provide thus far, pray that we constantly remember all He has done, and that we cling confidently to His promises.

Oketi Jospeh was the homestead's LC1, kind of like a Mayor.  It has been a huge blessing to
be welcomed into such a loving community and he has been a big support and
help for the work we do.

Thank you again, thank you all so much.  Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly… 

Always,

Cyrus and the Switchboard Team
(Jana, Nicole, and Josh)

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Isaiah 55:12-13

Goodbyes are never easy

I’m taking a moment to write you from Oxford, UK.  On the morning of the 8^th our team landed in London and parted ways.  As we’ve been blessed with flexible flight plans from our travel friend, I’ve taken a moment to visit the sites of one of the most influential minds in my own life, C.S. Lewis.  This has been such a treat, walking, thinking, and praying on the same roads of ideation and revelation for Lewis, Tolkien and many other incredible authors.  Though the place is crowded with tourism, it seems like I’m back in Latin America, where I can be surrounded by crowds of people yet feel perfectly alone the entire time.  Simply amazing.

Our last days in Africa went by too fast, but then again the whole trip seems to be that way.  Saying farewell in Africa is a timely process.  You are not just a visitor to a family, but you’re adopted by everyone in the community and every community you stumble upon. 

Though it feels about time to be making our way back, all the unknowns we are left with still make the moment heavy.   It is bitter sweet for sure.  Trying to filter through all of my experiences, things learned, and relationships formed are too much for me right now.  I love Africa.  Well I love Uganda, I’ve never been anywhere else in Africa yet but I probably love those places too.  I love how simple life in the village is.  You fetch your water, cook over a charcoal stove, and the only electricity you have for the week is the cell phone charge you have when you leave Gulu and the batteries to power your headlamps and lanterns.  Life slows to a crawl when the sun goes down and is quick to respond the moment the sun rises.  Just when you feel like logic would suggest life should be one way; God reminds you he is not bound by rules or logic, just love.  

As different as life may appear, you are also reminded of the heartbeat of humanity which is without borders.  People everywhere long for the same things, they desire to love and be loved, and life without purpose is simply hell on earth with no escape.  Where in one country you wake up and work your nine to five every day, in another you’ll wake up and dig in your garden to feed you family and pay your students school fees.  Yet in both areas people can be trapped, with few distractions or many.  People misunderstand and misrepresent truth wherever they are, simply because the pursuit of truth and understanding is an exhausting process and many times people don’t know where to start because there is either too much information available or none at all.  

It is a crazy world we live in, but chasing after the life Christ calls us toward is the only thing I believe will bring us the peace we are looking for.  I learned there are people everywhere looking for things of Jesus, some people have infinite resources and others only understand the things they’ve been told because they’ve never had access to a Bible of their own, let alone someone to walk with them as they try to understand the countless mysteries of God.  

I’ll continue to process my time in Africa for quite some time, if not forever.  But as we pray and wait for the Lord to reveal his will and his timing, please continue to pray with us. 

•  Pray for the development of our community projects in Lalogi, there are always obstacles regarding resources and land, as well as helping in a way that empowers.  Pray for wisdom and discernment as these develop.  Currently we help with community gardens, poultry farms, shelters, church plants, an orphanage and have distributed mosquito nets and Bibles through the community.
•  Pray God continues to provide the written Word of God to those who long for it.  Continue to pray Isaiah 55 for the five hundred Bibles we distributed through the churches in Parwech.  That God’s word would fall as rain on those who read it, causing their lives to grow and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.  That the fruit of the word would make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.
•  Pray for the leadership and direction of Switchboard as we continue to grow.  Pray for Walter, our Uganda Director, and his wife Jennifer.  Pray that Jesus would continue to touch their hearts and give them hope and direction.  Pray for us in the U.S. as we pray for the growth and development we feel the Lord will lay on our heart, pray for the provision of any needed resource but the leadership and wisdom to work with the things God gives us. 

Friends, thank you.  Thank you so much.  I will be writing many more thoughts about our time in Africa.  As we do we will send them out to you via this blog and you can read them as you please.  But for now, please know your prayers have been heard and they have been felt.  Your support has not only greatly encouraged us, it has greatly impacted the lives of those in the communities where we work and live.  God has been moving, and he will continue to move, of this I am confident. 

Looking forward to many more updates and adventures to share with you, thank you again.

Grace and love to you all, always…                                                                      

Cyrus and the Switchboard Team 

(Jana, Nicole, and Josh)

“For the love of Christ controls us…”   II Cor 5:14-21

Illusions of Knowledge

Sometimes it is impossible to explain how you feel.  Not because there aren’t words, but because you simply can’t understand the mixture of emotions and experiences at the current cross roads in your life.  It is a terribly beautiful fusion of peace and chaos, joy and sorrow, as well as understanding matched with utter confusion.  It is as though all is right in the world, and on the other hand it feels as though there is not one thing I could consider constant.  This is how I feel right now.  It is not a bad thing, but at times it is uncomfortable and even taxing.

I love being among new friends, in a new culture, learning a new language.  Everything about starting over and beginning the learning process excites me, how some things transcend culture and bring people together or everything you will learn from the distinct differences if you take the time to observe.  Understanding cultural differences comes over time, but being able to see them through the lens of Christ takes even longer.  Not to mention the time needed to challenge your own cultural norms and observe how Christ is demonstrated, or not demonstrated in the way we live. Perspective can be a painfully humbling thing.  If we allow it, it can also be life changing.  Yet for so many of us it is easy to become so comfortable with our understanding of knowledge that our perception of reality does very little in regards to our convictions.  I don’t know what is worse, not having access to truth, or choosing to ignore truth because if we recognized it life would be more difficult. 

In The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis explains our own minds can become our personal “hell” if we are unwilling to let go of things that are not of heaven.  His argument, which I agree with, is there is no room for anything that is not heavenly in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father.  Likewise, there is no place for the things of God to be built into the fabric of anything unholy, untrue, and unrighteous.  God does not share his holiness so we can settle for good things, he does not share his truth that we may believe in half-truths or partial truths, and he absolutely will not share his righteousness with anything unrighteous, though we will argue day and night creating a theology or a philosophy that fits our personal preferences.

Even though this next thought is seemingly unrelated, give me a moment and I’ll promise to bring it back around.  On Tuesday we paid a visit to the local primary school where Josh spoke about the subject of Reconciliation from II Corinthians 5 and 6.  With the attention, or lack of attention depending on the moment, from a couple hundred kids from the age of five to sixteen, Josh spoke about the depths of II Corinthians 5:21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

In a culture where everyone has heard the name of Jesus, yet even amongst themselves everyone still struggles with injustice, poverty, hunger, and incredible brokenness in their homes, we believe strongly the youth in this community will be the ambassadors of Christ who do not just know about him, but recognize that Jesus died on the cross so that they (we) might become the righteousness of God.  We might become the hands and feet of justice within our communities, we might visit those in prison, feed the hungry, and care for the widowed and orphaned not out of obligation but because the love of God has captivated our hearts and we long to do it. 

The greatest obstacle isn’t that people have never heard of Jesus.  Here, there are very few examples to follow of what Jesus calls us to.  People have become trapped in their own hell, held up within their mind because there are so many half-truths and partial truths they are unable to let go of.  Though this may seem like a struggle very different from in the United States because of grass roof huts and simple living, it’s not.  Sure, the way of life is different and culturally we may be apples and oranges, but we still struggle with our own illusions of knowledge.  Our misunderstandings usually come from believing we know more than we can possibly know through our immediate access to infinite amounts of information.  Yet, many of the difficulties we face here in Uganda stem from very limited access to information of any kind.  Not only do most families not have access to their own Bible, but the level of education often leaves many unaware of many things we would consider common knowledge.  It is the closest thing to an oral culture I have ever experienced, even land and ownership is communicated verbally through family heritage, and one can be arrested on accusation before any evidence is ever collected.  The amount of “he said/she-said” conversation I run into is overwhelming.  Yet that is the gospel many people know, something communicated through a generational game of “telephone”. 

As I see firsthand the hell in which our Illusion of Knowledge creates, I am drawn back to C.S. Lewis’ analogy.  There is no room in heaven for anything unheavenly; we can’t cling tightly to products of our broken humanity and long to take them with us as we build Jesus’ kingdom.  We needed the cross, just as much as we need it now, that we might become the righteousness of God.  That through the ultimate act of love we would not only be justified, but over a lifetime we would be transformed more and more into his image and likeness.  As Paul calls us, ambassadors of Christ, those who are righteous before God and actively demonstrating God’s heart for steadfast love, righteousness, and justice on the earth (Jeremiah 9:23-24).  Jesus was never supposed to be a prison within our mind which keeps us from doing his work, but if we live within our partial-truths that is what our faith can become.  Everything about Jesus is supposed to be about giving life, freeing, and becoming fully satisfied in being the righteousness of God.

As I sit here and wonder about all that He is doing, and as I try to make sense of my unexplainable emotional state, I pray the Lord reveals my own Illusions of Knowledge.  I do not want to spend a lifetime clinging to things that do not matter on this side of heaven. I want to be His, and I want everyone to understand the life available to us the moment we accept Jesus as both Savior and Lord.  As he continues to teach me his heart, I see he longs for the best for all his people, but that doesn’t always mean it will be the easiest and the most comfortable.  Yet if we are willing to trust him, I promise it will be the most satisfying adventure we could ever embark on.  If we are willing, if we accept Jesus as he is, he will make us to become the righteousness of God.

-Cyrus Eaton

Come to me, that your soul may live...

Trying to organize your thoughts and emotions from a week of living in the village into a single message simply cannot capture the reality of time passed in Uganda.  If you can imagine it, it has happened.  Starting with every Bible we have helped distribute, catching and releasing Francis the Rat from the boys hut, meals shared with our neighbors, to the ants which attacked our home last evening and the apocalypse immediately following, the excitement, emotions, and lessons learned are simply too great for words to truly suffice in explaining our emotions, the surprise, and the faithfulness of God in all things.  Yet as I think of the last week, though overwhelming, it is evident that in everything, God is reminding me of his heart for those in need and that he sees and knows every problem we will face and that he alone can make beautiful even the most desperate situations.  He longs to take broken things and make them beautiful, to deal justly to all who practice injustice, and to use all the hurt and pain the world could ever see to be a platform for hope and for his glory. 

Though he is in close pursuit of everyone, God has only affirmed he longs for all his people to participate in his redemption plan. God has made it clear to me that our heart, and our role, should be to do justice, and to be the hands and feet of the life giving love that has so changed us.  He has also reminded me that in my insufficiencies, he is sufficient.  In my imperfection, he is the good and perfect shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.  In my misunderstanding, he will make himself known.  And in the midst of false religion, oppression, neglect, and injustice, he is truth, he is freedom, and he is just (Ezekiel 34).

My last update was sent the day before visiting a nearby orphanage, Father’s House, where we played, sang with the kids, enjoyed their dances and demonstrations, but also heard from the hearts of the humble servants who run and operate this incredible house of love (Read more of Nicole’s thoughts in our blog post from last week).  Training with the Bayern Young Stars Football Club has continued.  Denis, our translator and the most recent addition to our team, is quite the footballer and has been a huge support for the team and for helping increase the depths of our friendships.  Every day comes with new surprises and changed plans, music festivals, dinners with friends, or some unexpected wildlife looking to consume your home. And finally, we have spent most of our time distributing Bibles in the community, and watching as those who long to have their own Bible come find us directly at our homestead. 

Never have I seen such a deep hunger for God’s written Word.  Time and time again my heart has been convicted as we watched others receive their family’s first Bible.  On Tuesday when the farmers came to work the community garden, the farmers sang, danced, and knelt down in the dirt as you could see the gratitude in their entire being. Communities have given us lists of those in their homesteads and church communities who are without a Bible and have agreed to take us to deliver the gift of God’s word in their own language.  With each home visit comes another story as we are granted an opportunity to see into the difficult realties many families face.  Often, families’ salaries are withheld simply because the money is not there, and nearly always it is their children who suffer because there is no money to pay their school fees.  Limited access to medical treatment and a judicial system which arrests those on mere accusation are a few other stories we hear as we listen to our new friends.  In the midst of all their struggles, many of which are not consequences of their own decisions but rather a broken humanity, I continue to see a hope and a trust in the Lord I do not believe I have ever been blessed to see with my own eyes.  Daily I saw a hope and a hunger for God that I long to know within my own heart.

In addition to visiting others at their home, there are also those who seek us out at our home.  Everyone comes, the illiterate young boy, the drunken old man, the desperate family, and the teenage girl who longs for God to be known through her life.  With each new visitor I saw our prayers, and yours, for Isaiah 55 come to life. 

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat...  Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David (Isa 55:1,3). 

The only thing God requires from us is that we would come to him, or that we would recognize him as he comes to us.  God’s love and his word, is for all who hunger and thirst.  His word bids us to come as we are.  Come and eat, delight in rich food.  Come.  Drink.  Drink deep from the wells of living water and never thirst again.  Recognize your need for food and water that will satisfy and simply come as you are.  You don’t have to fix your problems or correct your theology first, just come to Jesus and live.  

This has been quite the challenge as I reflect on my own life, and as I share conversation with my team members.  So many times we want to right the wrong in our hearts and in our actions before trusting Jesus will have us.  But without Jesus, without accepting the invitation to participate in his story, we’ll always be settling for “less”.  I forget all the evidence in my own life which shows Jesus has been chasing me, and I become so easily distracted for things that do not satisfy.  I want to long for Jesus as my friends in Africa do, even if they have yet to read from the pages of scripture.  I want to believe so strongly in God’s promises for me because his word is truth, and thus his promises are also true, that my tiny anxieties compared to this culture do not distract me from the work God is doing.  I don’t want to settle for less, even if that means discomfort.  I want Jesus to be the first place I look the moment my life is interrupted or inconvenienced and I want to believe with all that I am he will do all that he says he will.

Even now I feel as though I could write pages more about each story.  But to keep this as “short” as I can, I invite you to continue praying for us and with us for the needs and the people of this community. 

Continue to pray for the Bibles that will be distributed.  Please join us in praying Isaiah 55 over God’s word.  That his steadfast, sure love for David would be placed deep within the hearts of those reading, that young leaders would cling to the life giving words found in scripture and that they would trust God with all their uncertainties and insufficiencies.  Pray that these words would fall on the hearts of men as rain and snow which do not return until accomplishing all God has purposed it.

Pray for kids and young men who frequently find their way onto our homestead.  Moskey, Cesar, Sam and Francis are a few of those who spend time playing with us and joining us for evening prayer though they do not understand most of what we say in English. 

Pray for Walter, our director.  His health has improved greatly, but he remains busy and his wife very pregnant.  Pray for them, for rest and for health as they wait for their newest addition to the family.

Please continue to pray for us, pray for an increased trust and confidence in who he is.  As we meet many needs, pray God deepens our trust in his provision and his faithfulness especially as our organization grows as well as the needs associated with it.  And please, pray he continues to draw us close to him, showing us more of how much he loves us and revealing to us more of his love for the people in our communities.  Pray we would see them as God sees them.

Thank you all, thank you for your support and your prayers.  Though we are so often “off the grid”, it is a blessing to sit down and recall the goodness of the Lord and share our joy with you.

Grace and love to you all, always.

Cyrus

I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy, I will feed them in justice. 
Ezekiel 34:15-16

How Lovely is Your Dwelling Place...

Our dearest friends and family,

Wow, I sit here trying to think about where to begin and am at somewhat of a loss. This week was so good and full of the favor of God. We began passing out Bibles, and although we expected great things, I don’t think any of us could have ever imagined what a blessing it would be. We have gotten to see His Word come to life in the most beautiful ways as people have received it for the first time and have burst forth in praise and worship at their hunger fulfilled. God has graced us with what I think we would all agree was a glimpse of Heaven touching Earth, so much to the point of having to take off our shoes because it was so evident that we were standing on Holy ground. We have heard incredible stories of faith and God’s faithfulness that have in turn grown our faith as well. We have gotten to sit in our front yard and share communion with new friends, mediating on the truth of the Gospel and the love and redemption of Jesus. All in all, we’ve just seen God’s hand at work around every corner – seeing clearly how He has been at work long before we ever got here and will continue to move long after we are gone. I am continually blown away at His invitation for us to step in and join Him in the things He is doing. THERE’S NOWHERE ELSE I’D RATHER BE!!! That, my heart has grown more and more certain of.

As we have come to serve, the Lord has been so kind, as He always is, in pouring into us far more than we could ever pour out. He has pulled us closer into His heart and allowed us to better understand the depths of His love, bringing us to places of deeper intimacy with Him. He’s showed us His faithfulness time and time again and taught us more of what it looks like to trust and lean on Him fully. He is continually opening our eyes more and more to see the world and people the way that He does and teaching our hearts how to love like Jesus. In all of that, joy has been full.

As we head back into the village today, we invite you to continue joining us in prayer!

• ·      Pray over the Bibles and the people receiving them. Isaiah 55 has been a passage that has remained on our hearts; join us in praying it over the souls of these precious people!                           “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price… Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David… Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near… so shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands...”

• ·      Pray for the kids and families that frequently find their way onto our homestead – that He continues to demonstrate His truth and love through us and that people would encounter Jesus as they step into our homes.
• ·      Pray for Tuli and the projects going on here – that He would have His way and be glorified through it all.
• ·      Pray for Walter and his family as he works tirelessly and his wife, Jennifer, is expecting a baby in the next month! Pray health and blessings over his home and that he would be strengthened and encouraged as he presses on in obedience.
• ·      Pray for us – that God continues to stretch and teach us, pulling us closer into Himself, that our hearts would be fully surrendered to Him and we would be sensitive to His voice and in step with the Spirit.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. We are so grateful for each and every one of you – although you remain on the other side of the world, you all are an extremely vital part of our team! We love you. Yes, you :) A lot!

Joyfully His,

Nicole

“How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God… For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” Psalm 84

"Come, everyone who thirsts..."

Afoyo! (Hello in Luo) We are back in town from our first week in the village! Gosh, it was so so good. We rode up last weekend to a big group of our old friends singing and dancing around our hut waiting for us to arrive. What a sweet reunion it was :) We spent the first few days visiting with friends, sharing meals and catching up on life. Adjusting to village life has been somewhat blissful. You can almost feel time slow down as you walk along the dirt road and sit under the stars. It’s a refreshing change of pace.

On Sunday we went back to a church in the village that is pastored by our friend Bosco. It’s so incredible to watch praise rise up on the other side of the world – in a unique way and a language that I can’t understand, knowing that it is heard and received by the same Father that I worship every day in America. The guys (Cyrus and Josh) got to share some encouragement from the Word and we got to kneel with and pray for some precious souls. Crying out for a touch from God, for healing and for the victory of Jesus to reign down in power - my trust in our good God and His good plans deepened. My heart was confident and at rest in the truth that HE IS LORD and that the blood of Jesus is sufficient for all redemption and restoration. While we were praying healing and freedom over a man named Moses, the Lord put a simple song on my heart – “All we need is Your touch, God; Come and touch us now”. That’s kind of been the anthem of my heart lately.

Our main “project” that we’re doing while we’re here is handing out Bibles in the local language, Luo. Until now, the villagers have had very little access to the Word. There are a few Bibles scattered throughout, most of which are in English, but you would be hard-pressed to find fifty at most. We have ordered five hundred from the capital city and will be giving them to any family in the village that wants one. We spent Thursday fasting and praying over each one individually and will begin the distribution this week. We are planning on going house to house, sitting down and talking to people, sharing the Gospel, answering questions, and praying over families and homes as they receive the Word for the first time.

I’m really excited and very expectant for what God is going to do in this place as it is filled with His Word. Pray with us for a hunger and longing to sweep over this place. Pray for divine understanding and for chains to be broken by truth. Pray that the truth of Jesus would penetrate hearts and the Gospel would take deep root. And pray for me, too. As I have been dwelling in prayer over these Bibles, much conviction and urgency has fallen on my own heart to understand the value of God’s Word and to have a deep hunger for it. I know He wants to teach me the very things that I am praying over the people here. More of Jesus is what I want, really.

Yesterday in Gulu we got to go spend the day with some sweet, sweet kids at Father’s House Orphanage. It is a truly wonderful place, full of the love and presence of God. It is run by Ugandans from around here – just committed Christ followers who live by James 1:27 “Religion that God the Father looks at as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” They have given their lives to this and have provided a beautiful home and family for these precious kids. We got to talk with the leadership about the best way we can support and encourage them in their obedience and are excited about the potential opportunities! God allowed me to get a glimpse of His heart as I sat with those kids and we taught each other “Jesus loves me” in our respective languages and as I watched them dance and play with joy and got to hold a sweet girl as tears streamed down her face thinking about her parents. The goodness of God’s promise “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18) washed over me afresh. It is so GOOD to be His child!!!!! Thank You, Jesus.

There’s much more I could write. I’ve been working on this update for far too long, trying to condense my thoughts as I attempt to “sum it up” in a few short paragraphs. Basically, God is good and on the move, and I’m thankful to be here. It is a joy and honor to be in this beautiful place serving and learning from these beautiful people. I hope all is well in America! I LOVE you all so very very much. 

His,

Nicole 

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David..." Isaiah 55:1-3