Busy, busy, busy....AKA: sorry for the lack of posts!

Well, as you may have noticed, it's been 3 weeks since my last post! Holy cow...time flies!!! I apologize for the lack of posts for you all but the good news is that the reason for not updating you is because I am so busy. I've been really stressed lately and feeling homesick and have just felt burnt out and there is a constant cultural adjustment going on everyday (I'll discuss this more in my prayer requests!).

So either way, I've been busy. We are constantly learning and taking classes at ABIDE. I can see all of us (me, the new short-term missioner named Jake, and the Ugandans - Samson, Patrick, Obadiah, Mehdard, and Amos) becoming better and better disciples of Jesus. There is SO much to learn, in fact, that I fear we can't possibly retain it all. I'll mention another book we are reading called In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen. It's a very short book and an easy read, but there is a lot to take away from it. It's about the future of Christian Leadership and what a Christian Leader should look like. Interestingly, Nouwen is a Roman Catholic Priest and he works at a handicapped facility for the mentally disabled called L'Arche. I've loved reading it, especially since there is a stereotype in the U.S. about Catholics. Many people say that Catholics aren't Christians and I can't help but be disappointed when people say that, acting as if they have the authority to decide who is and isn't a Christian. I know plenty of protestants who don't always seem like Christians (and that includes myself). You have to judge a person's heart...but can you judge another person's heart?

Either way, Nouwen is a Christian and he says in the book, "I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant (i.e. die to oneself, or give up on the idea of being "cool and popular") and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God's love. The great message that we have to carry as ministers of God's Word and followers of Jesus is that God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of all human life." Amen.

I am also teaching a computer class here. I've been faced with the problem of trying to teach computers to the students when some have NEVER touched a computer. I had to start from the very beginning, giving a little history of the computer and then explaining the terms - such as hard drive, RAM, laptop, desktop, processor, programs, software, etc... . It's been a challenge, but now all of them have email addresses and most have facebook :)

So, that's my quick update this week. I also have MORE PICTURES!!! WOOHOO!!! These are pictures I uploaded (another vocabulary word!) onto facebook. They are pics of my house, yard, and rooms. If you don't remember, I live just outside of Mbarara in Southwest Uganda in a neighborhood called Nkokenjuro...good luck pronouncing that one! Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2183650&l=af38b&id=19226300

PHOTOGRAPHS!!!

Hopefully this works, but I uploaded photos onto facebook and I wanted to share them with everyone who doesn't have facebook! So here is the link to some of the albums:

This album is from Kishanje in Southwest Uganda. It is just a few miles from the Rwanda/Congo border. I went there with Matt Kehn (the pastor at JAM and creator of the ABIDE Discipleship Program I'm helping to lead) just a few days after I arrived in Uganda. Kishanje is known for its large, rolling hills and its lush farmland. You can see from the pics how gorgeous it is.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178677&l=b42e4&id=19226300


This next album is from my first safari! It was at Lake Mbaro, about 45 minutes outside of Mbarara where I live. Lake Mbaro is known for its zebra's and antellope. There are no lions in the park (much of the wildlife was killed off during the Idi Amine years), but plenty of wildlife to go around! Warthogs, birds, zebra's, antellope, and much more. The other people in the pictures are fellow missionaries.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178540&l=61407&id=19226300

That's it! Enjoy!

Update: Thursday, April 24

I have now been in Uganda for one month! It feels like it has only been a few days at most, but at the same time it could have been a year. I am getting to know everyone more and more, and the men I live with (their names are Patrick, Samson, Obadia, Mehdard, and Amos) are becoming like brothers to me. The ABIDE Program is going well and the discipleship is yielding some incredible fruit. Its been a time of growth - both in leadership and in learning. I get to be both the discipler and the discipled; the teacher and the student. I have learned so much and we are only 1/4 of the way through ABIDE.

Our ABIDE schedule consists of classes Tuesday through Friday from 9 am until 4 pm (Monday's are our day off). During class time, we are discussing the Bible, specifically John chapters 13-17. We are also reading "How to Read the Bible for All its Worth" (which discusses how to analyze and interpret the Bible yourself using the original languages of the Bible - Hebrew and Greek, mainly - and it also discusses context and applying the Bible today). The second book we are reading is "The Master Plan of Evangelism" which discusses how to share the Bible the way that Jesus did and how to be effective at sharing the Gospel. The third book we are reading is "The Cost of Discipleship" which is also my favorite. It is by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (spelling?), and if you don't know who he is, then SHAME on you! Bonhoeffer was German (No, really?!) who was murdered in 1945 because he stood up, as a Christian, to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was very vocal at how horrible Nazi's and socialism were, and eventually became part of a plot to assassinate Hitler. It failed and he was caught, and was hanged just weeks before the Nazi's were stopped. He is a Christian martyr and was a voice for the people who Hitler tried to keep quiet. Read this book as soon as you can!

On the weekends we are doing outreach. We are visiting nearby churches and helping with worship, sharing our testimonies, and preaching. We are also doing community outreach through service projects and prayer. We are praying for our neighbors around us, getting to know them, and sharing our faith with them as well. People have been so receptive and the culture towards Christianity is much different here than in America. You are also allowed to openly preach and share with children at public schools - and most of the time, it's because you were invited by the teachers...praise God!

I am also leading worship and teaching a computer course every Friday so that the students can learn some practical skills while they are a part of ABIDE. It's been difficult so far trying to teach computer skills to people who have never touched a computer...can you imagine? But that's why they need to learn it, especially today.

Word of the week: Akamassimye! which means: PRAISE GOD!

I will leave you with a verse: Hebrews 2: 5-9

It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet."
In putting everything under him (Jesus), God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Seeking God

I shared this verse with a friend yesterday, and I thought everyone should hear it. Often, people just quote Jeremiah 29:11, but they leave out the sweetest part which are in verses 12 and 13. It is such a good reminder of who God is and "the plans (he has) for you."

Jeremiah 29: 11-13
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Amen!

Hakuna Matata, ABIDE, and other random thoughts

Hello all! Sorry for the late post...you'll probably be hearing that a lot because sometimes it's hard to get to use the internet...which brings me to my "Random word of the week" segment (P.S. I am starting a "random word of the week" segment from now on!). The word this week is Hakuna Matata - yes, that's right...Hakuna Matata which means (and this will be easy for those of you with Disney Trivia knowledge) "No worries". Things are slow here - life, the internet, cars...so just take it easy, don't worry - you know, Hakuna Matata!!!

ANYWHO, things are going AMAZINGLY well. But I realized that I hadn't told you exactly what I am doing while I'm here, so I'll use this post to finally do so!

Today we started the program I am helping to lead called ABIDE - Amagara Bible Institute of Discipleship and Evangelism. It sounds fancy, doesn't it? Simply put, it is a discipleship program for Ugandan men who recently graduated high school (they call high school "secondary school"). There are five men in the program this year and it will be lasting four months. A huge problem in Uganda is a serious lack of GOOD leadership - of men who take care of their wives, don't abuse alcohol, and know what it means to be honest. This program is aiming to instill that type of leadership in these men. The hope is that one day, their will be ABIDE programs throughout Uganda, discipling men in the way that Jesus Christ led us. It is quite the undertaking as you can imagine and the program, the men I am with, and I need your prayers. It's intense. We are reading 4 books right now plus the Book of John, chapters 13 through 17, when Jesus teaches on Discipleship. I'll have to talk about the books we are reading some other time...but I am so excited to be starting and I am settling in well. So mom and dad, hakuna matata, ok? Love you all and miss you...

-Matayo <><

P.S. Something I thought about the other day was that while I am praying for you all here in Uganda, I am 9 hours ahead...so when you're all sleeping, I'm praying. And when you are praying for me in the good ole' USA, I am sleeping...so it's like 24 hours of prayer is going on!!! SWEET!!! God is good, and is working all over...in Uganda and America. Email me and say hi... matt2uganda@gmail.com

The FIRST posting from Uganda!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Agande! (That means “How are you” in Ugandan). This is my first posting since arriving on Tuesday, March 25. I have been settling in, getting to know a lot of people, and trying to take everything as it comes. Everyday has been busy, so far, but everything also seems to take much longer to accomplish so you get less done! But people have been very friendly, though some seem to treat me a little differently because they know that I am an outsider (hmmm, I wonder why it is so obvious?!)

Yesterday we made a road trip to the very Southwest part of the country to a town in the hills along the Rwanda border in the Kabale District, and its called Kishanje (pronounced Chi-shan-gee). It was so beautiful! The hills in the Southwest are so big and lush with plants and animals. The farmers build terraces going up the hills, and it is hard to believe that they do all the farming by hand, climbing up and down everyday. And the only access to it all is by dirt road, which during the rainy season can be quite an adventure! We had to use four-wheel drive for 20 about 20 miles!!!

We went to Kishanje to see students at the Juna Amagara facility that is there. Some of these students are orphans while others are students from the surrounding area. Most are in secondary school (like high school). Their education program here is much more rigorous than in the U.S. They are in school from about 8 am til about 5 or 6 pm and then are studying until 10, then they go to sleep. There are of course breaks, but most of the day is spent in school or studying.

The last week has been rough at times to get through. I was first in a little culture shock, though mostly it was due to the fact that I was getting used to the 8 hour time difference. I had been going to bed at 9 or 10 pm, then waking up at 2 am and staying wide awake til 5 or so. This has been the hardest part about coming here, because I have felt exhausted. But that is finally coming to an end and I am getting good sleep and sleeping through the night.

The days have been mostly warm – around 70 – 80 degrees. It’s been pretty perfect. But, as Forrest Gump would say, when it rains, IT RAINS! It comes pouring down for a few hours, sometimes all day. After it rains, though, it becomes dry and hot for whatever reason…it is just how the weather is. But I have managed to stay un-burnt this far, and have a nice little tan going, if I do say so myself J.

Well, that’s all I’m going to say for now! I am leaving to go meet up with two other missionaries I met named Jake and Owen – Jake is from the U.S. in California, and Owen is Welsh. We are going to be meeting once a week to catch up and talk about the craziness that is Uganda!!! And we are going to play football (aka soccer) (aka I don’t know how to play). I’ll try to update again this week, since I’ve been out of contact, but if I don’t, I’ll be updating every Monday (Monday’s will be my day off!!!). Love you all…I miss you and I am praying all the time for EVERYONE! Please keep me in your prayers… Til next time…

It's been two weeks since my last update! Yikes! Sorry about that. I promise I'll keep this more updated in Uganda...Hopefully I won't be so darn busy!

I got in to Chicago on Monday and been here just saying hi to family, buying last minute items and preparing to leave. I haven't found as much time with God and His Word lately, so just be praying that God would prepare the way for me to go. I can't wait! I'm excited to watch God work and ready for Him to work more on me.

A friend of mine asked me about a month ago what my goals were when I was in Uganda, and i had no answer for her because I hadn't really thought about it. But since then, I've been praying that God would simply use me as a means for His ends. I don't think I've been available to Him to use, and I want to be from now on. That's my goal. To just be His servant, to allow Him to humble me through all of this, teach me to become more of a leader, and to be more kind (meaning to be more compassionate and loving others). I think all of that starts with letting Him know that I am ready for Him to use me in that way and to be a servant to others just like Jesus was to us. I'm excited by that!

I know that leaving the U.S. and going to Uganda doesn't mean that all of a sudden God's going to suddenly be more important to me. I won't get some flash or revelation because I'm in a different country...but I do think it will allow me to focus on Him more and not be distracted. The reason I am going, and will be there for more than 5 months, is all for God, and it will be hard to forget that. I want to become a much more focused Christian. I want to be a man devoted to God...and because I'm devoted to God, I will also be more loving to others. I don't think that's the person I've been the last few years, and things don't feel right. I want that to change in my heart and my head. I love God, but I don't know how much yet. I want to find out...

I've told only a few people, but I think about that girl at Columbine who was martyred. She had a gun to her head, and the other student asked her if she believed in God, and that if she said yes, he would kill her. She didn't deny God. She said yes, and paid the ultimate price. I wonder how much of us have that kind of courage. Would you have still said yes? I don't know if I would. I'm not going to seek out that kind of a situation, but if I were ever put in it, I want to be able to say that my answer would also be yes. That's how much God wants us to love Him. I want to make sure my answer is yes, too...

In Christ, Matt <><