We have been back in Uganda for about a month and I wanted to take the opportunity to write about our time back in the States during our furlough. Our time back was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time!

We LOVED getting to see family (and meet some new ones) and reconnect with friends. I read a book called Re-entry, which is about going back home after being on the mission field and it talked about how friends and family move on without you, and to be prepared for it. While our friends and family have indeed moved on with life without us, we seemed to jump right back where we left off with everyone!

We had a ton of opportunities to share our experiences in Uganda and our vision for Heart for Uganda with many churches, groups, and individuals. We had opportunities to speak at:  Faith Baptist Church (multiple times), First Presbyterian Church of Wichita Falls men’s group, First United Methodist Church Throckmorton, First Baptist Church Henrietta, First United Methodist Church Wichita Falls Sunday school group, Calvary Baptist Church Vernon, Optimist Club of Wichita Falls, Completing the Task, and Rotary Club of Wichita Falls.

We were able to raise funds to complete some projects on our farm that will allow us to grow our discipleship and vocational training programs. This was very exciting for us because we had set a goal before we left Uganda and by God’s grace, we were able to exceed this goal!!!

Going on furlough brought about such mixed emotions. We loved getting to see our family and friends, but it brought to light all the things that we had missed and will be missing going forward. We’ve missed births, holiday gatherings, deaths, marriages etc. While we loved being back home, a part of us desired to be back in Uganda with our friends and people we work with, because that is where God has called us to call home for this season in our lives. It’s like we have two homes yet it is impossible to be in both at the same time, though our heart desires that.

Being back home and stepping away from our work here allowed for some time of reflection on our work in Uganda. I’ve realized that I’m going to have to say “no” to some really good things in order to say “yes” to some great things that God has in store for us. When we first arrived in Uganda, I took on any project that anyone asked me to help with since I didn’t have anything really up and running with our ministry yet. However, now that our ministry is really taking off, I’ve realized (with the help of wise counsel from my wife and our pastor), that I have to really focus my efforts. I had spread myself out too thin and didn’t really concentrate my efforts on one area. God has blessed our ministry of vocational training and discipleship and I needed to focus my efforts on those areas. We have some exciting developments that we will be adding to our ministry in the near future, but we won’t be able to implement these without saying no to other things.

Back in Uganda, we have hit the ground running with a week of vocational training at Global Theological Seminary, a trip to Western Uganda for a wedding, and countless hours working on the farm to get ready for planting in the coming days when the rains begin.

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and support of our ministry! We really can’t do it without you!

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