Update Summer

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013 SUMMER ROOT, KARAMOJA UGANDA

THE NEED OF A SAVIOR Breaking of the "Etal" As the sun began to dip behind the western horizon, we found ourselves rumbling along dirt roads towards the village of Kassiapus. Ana Abong welcomed us to her home with great enthusiasm. She brought a cow skin and laid it on the ground, sweeping away the goat feces with a smile. We sat with the dignity of royalty amongst the clatter of goats, chicken, women and children. Once we had settled in Ana announced that she had a great treat for us. She had walked over an hour to town to buy a special food for her guests: macaroni! But the problem was she didn't know how to prepare it, so with an embarrassed smile she asked us if we could help her. We gladly pitched in and by the time the sun had set we had prepared a macaroni feast. We ate beneath the vast stars of Karamoja. Then, as the full moon rose and lit up the dark sky, other villagers began to gather around. Jerry cans and sticks were found and used as drums to accommodate the joyful voices of the villagers. Everyone stood around in a circle singing and dancing to the beat of the jerry cans.  After some time they settled down to listen to the story. PRAISES AND PRAYER · Praise for God's direction in showing us how to move forward with sharing the Bible stories · Praise for Loram Emmy who has been a faithful leader · Praise for the members of the local leadership team · Praise for the villages of Napoingae and Kassiapus who are open to receiving God's Word. · Praise the Pioneers East Africa Retreat will be held in Ethiopia this January, so I get two weeks to reconnect with all my Ethiopian friends! · Prayer for continued spiritual growth for the leadership team · Prayer for guidance and wisdom in all that we do · Prayer that God will speak his truth into the hearts of the Karamojong

This story, taken from Mark 7:1-23 was a story that the Lord laid on my heart for this night.  In the story, the religious leaders come to Jesus and asked him "why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They eat with unwashed hands!" And Jesus replied, "And why do you break the commands of God for the sake of human rules? Isaiah was right when he prophesied against you hypocrites. As it is written:  'you honor me with your lips but your heart is far from me. Your worship of me is in vain and your teachings are only human rules.'" Jesus goes on to teach them that nothing from the outside can defile them, but it is from the inside, from the heart that they are defiled. God laid this passage on my heart because the tradition of the elders is the religion of the people. The Karamojong adhere to the "etal" the traditions that have been handed down- the dos and don'ts of Karamojong society which create their moral standards of behavior. But the "etal" is more than just a set cultural tradition, it is the embodiment of belief systems that keep people bound to the rules of humans rather than the standards of God. Sin then, is not defined by the evils that reside within us, but rather by the act of breaking these traditions and going against the societal whole. The punishment of these sins is then only as deep as the society. Sin does not have any impact on the afterlife. You offend the elders, you receive punishment from the elders, make a sacrifice and receive remission for that offence. So as I was telling this story I was praying for conviction to penetrate into the hearts of the Karamojong. Without a right understanding of our own sinful condition and the eternal impact of sin in our lives, we cannot understand the purpose or work of Jesus Christ. Until we recognize our need, we cannot recognize our Savior. The "etal" is only a surface level cleanliness, before the Holy God, the heart remains unclean. This is why we needed Jesus to come. We needed a Savior that offers us a way to receive cleanliness of heart, not just traditions that make us accepted on a societal level. Where do our evil thoughts and actions come from? From the depths of our hearts, the sinful nature of our souls. According to Romans 6:23 "the wages of sin is death", eternal separation from God, eternal condemnation. Jesus' act of love and humility, His coming to earth as a baby to be the Savior who takes the punishment for our sins is the only hope that we have. Jesus came to break the traditions of the elders. He came to replace the surface level cleanliness with the heart cleanliness that ushers us into an eternal relationship with Him. Please pray with me that the Karamojong will see their need for a Savior and find the hope that Jesus Christ is offering them. UPDATE ON LOCAL LEADERS Thank you for your continued prayer Since landing back in Karamoja we have experienced many joys and challenges. The first couple of weeks were spent prayerfully assessing all that had happened while we were out. We were thrilled to find that Loram Emmy, our main leader had been faithful in doing the work while we were out. We were happy to find that five (out of nine) local leadership members had also been faithful in coming to the discipleship trainings (a commitment that involves a three hour walk). But in addition to these joys we found some challenges. The women were intimidated to share the Bible stories in their villages because of cultural pressures from their husbands. The men were asking for payment for attending the meetings. We found that many community members who had attended the Bible storying sessions in the village while we were there had stopped coming while we were out. Sadly we recognized that some of the enthusiasm we had experienced was merely skin deep. So we have faced many challenges. BUT we are not overcome! As we considered all these issues, we decided we needed to extend our story set. We needed to address these issues in Biblical ways and we needed to press forward, in prayer, in love and in faith. So that is what we are doing. I am happy to say that God has been directing us. God has been bringing correction and discipline in the lives of the members of the team. And has been drawing back some of the ones who had fallen away. God has been showing us which stories to share and who to work with. He has been faithful and is showing us the way forward. We want to remain adaptable to the changes that God wants us to make.