I wanted to give an update of what I see God doing these days. I am truly encouraged in so very many ways.
FIRST, Jeff's health has been improving gradually. He has been working for a company called Shimadzu, located in Canby, Oregon, doing quality inspection and metal working. He often works 5 ten hour shifts in a week which is challenging. Even so, he is very glad to be working. He has been there as a "temp to hire" since July 11th, his 64th birthday. We are hoping he will be hired as a permanent employee when he has satisfied the 500 hour temp requirement. The main purpose of his working is to secure health insurance for us both. We thank God for the measure of health He has given us in these months since we took early retirement from WorldVenture. Thanks for praying for us!
SECOND, I see God at work in people and regions we so reluctantly left in 2008. You may recall that we had several midtermers living and working with us our final year in Uganda/Sudan. Jaclyn Konczal came freshly graduated from N. Carolina State University in Feb. 2007 and stayed until Feb. 2008. She developed some lasting relationships with the nationals there in Adjumani. Her heart led her back recently for a brief visit. This past summer Jaclyn bravely traveled alone and spent about a month in Adumani (with the assistance of Pastor Henry Vuyaya of Liberty Baptist in Adjumani and Idha Michael, a university trained rural development expert who is employed by Mercy Corps in another region of Uganda, but who grew up in Adjumani) helping the women in the village surrounding Liberty Baptist Church build an oven and start a bakery project which they named The Beloved Bakery.
I cannot tell you what a great testimony this project will be to the people of Adjumani! Pray with me that God will protect and sustain this labor of love to sustain women who often have little or no income and carry such a great burden of responsibility to feed their families and pay school fees for their children. Many of the women participating are widowed or abandoned by their husbands. The gospel will be not only heard but seen as a result of these women working together. The site chosen for the bakery is right outside the door of Liberty Baptist Church.
THIRD, I've been in touch with a young man, Thomas Bell, who is seeking appointment with WorldVenture in October this year. His focus is development and discipleship in Southern Sudan. He already spent a year in Kajo Keji west of the Nile in S. Sudan and recently moved to Nimule, S. Sudan, the border town we passed through whenever we entered or exited our work area in S. Sudan. Thomas has not waited to be appointed by WorldVenture to begin building relationships as you see from a portion of the communication I recently had from him:
We've launched our program and have over 50 clients. We're having to turn people away by the hundreds, just about everyone in Nimule wants to open a savings account at the very least. I'm confident we could be serving over 1000 people with loans and 10,000 with savings within a few months if only we had the funding. Our team is learning very quickly too but I'm even holding back for what we can fund until we get our processes for the "nuts and bolts" down.
We've also had lots of interest in some of the other side projects for construction, power, water and sanitation. I've been to a number of the churches around town and had the opportunity to teach in some village churches, though the last one nearly destroyed my Hilux and cost a few million UGX to repair.
Its been a great blessing to be here and I hope to continue the work here for many years to come.
I highly recommend you follow Thomas Bell's journey in the coming days. Check out his Facebook page:
I think you can understand why my heart is so encouraged these days seeing the love and good works He continues to inspire in the hearts of both mundu/kawaja (white folk) and Ugandan and Sudanese folk...and the building of kingdom community that has been our hope and dream. This kingdom community will indeed be one of interdependence and love which spans the planet, not to mention earth and heaven. These are just two instances of what is happening over there. I know there is so much more.
So then, be encouraged as I am. And pray for these folk joining hands and hearts to make the love of God known to those who need to be touched and embraced after years of strife and war in the dawning of peace in N. Uganda and the new nation of South Sduan. God is raising up men and women for such a time as this.
Grace and peace,
Michelle Theisen
