3-12-2010

We would like to apologize for our lack of communication over the past month. We have been experiencing an extreme lack of electricity over the past month. It would be on for a day then off for a couple days. The power went out last Wednesday but was fully restored yesterday evening.
We are on our 11th week here in Uganda. The time seems to be slipping away on us here. Before we know it we will be back in West Virginia. Over the past few days Rachel and I have been contemplating how weird it will be when we are thrust directly back into American culture and luxury.
The past two weeks have been the hardest for me physically (Mike). I started having extreme stomach pains three times a day, especially after eating. I waited to see if it was just a virus but it continued to get worse. So I told my Keith McFarland about me stomach issues and how I can barely eat anything. So I was diagnosed as having a parasite in my stomach. The good thing is that I was able to provide for one of God’s creatures ;-). I began a treatment for the parasites last Saturday and I am now fine and able to eat without extreme pain.
The Lord has given me (Mike) an opportunity to assistant coach the Kasana boys basketball team. Many of the boys from our family group Ebenezer are on the team which has given me a great opportunity to build deeper relationships with them. When I first started playing basketball with them I could tell they needed some serious help in understanding the fundamentals of the game. To my surprise they have picked it up so quickly. There is at least one boy 14 years old and 6’4 who is by far the best player out of the group and who has the potential to develop into a college prospect. The main thing I have focused on with the boys has been defense and shooting. Tal, the head coach, has signed the team up for games and tournaments starting in two weeks. We are excited to know how they perform against other Ugandan teams.
Rachel started a new ministry last Saturday with the girls of Ebenezer. She borrowed a kitchen and had about 12 girls come over to teach them to bake. They did a tremendous job making Snicker Doodles and Banana bread, I (Mike) got to taste one of the cookies. It surprised me that none of the girls had ever baked before. Rachel is going to continue this ministry through the remainder of our time here. After baking they sat around talking and playing games. Perhaps one day some of these girls can use these baking skills to make an income. This opportunity has also given Rachel a much deeper relationship with some of the girls.
The past two weeks we went through Biblical Counseling training with Jonnes Bakimi. Here is a short summary of what we have learned and are practicing in our lives.
Counseling is basically dealing with issues of the heart. Usually we just view counseling as going to someone for advice or help but it is more than that. Counseling is something that we are doing all the time. It happens intentionally and unintentionally. Thus we are either giving good and true counsel or we are giving false counsel. Psalm 1 teaches that a person acts based on what they believe and they believe based on their influences. These influences in our lives are what creates belief and what you believe will ultimately determine how you behave or your actions.
The typical response in counseling is usually geared toward fixing behaviors. However, this does not get to the root of the problem. Instead of cutting the branches we need to kill the root of the problem. When need to keep in mind that when counseling we are always dealing with worldview which is either based on truth, half-truths and lies, or just lies. Most often we will deal with half-truth based worldviews. What we now must do is uncover the lie (problem) and kill it with truth. We need to be replacing the lies with truths. The funny thing is that the heart more easily swallows lies than it does truth. Thus we must give the truth in love.
It is of utmost importance to view people as God views them:
- Created Perfectly
- Created for His purposes
- Loved by Him
- In need of Jesus’ salvation and restoration
- Desperately wicked and sick
- Filled with lies; in need of truth
- Needs reconnected back to God
The Key to counseling is Jesus Christ bearing all of our griefs, sins, failures and hurts on the cross. We ourselves first of all need to recognize this and look upon Jesus on the cross and cast our cares, sorrows, sins, pains, and hurts on Him.
So how do we take our pain to Jesus?
1. By Confessing the offense or hurt.
2. Repent: turn from the ownership or slavery of the sin or pain
3. Free: we are now able to walk in freedom
4. We are now able to bring others to this freedom.
We may write more on this later. Currently we are studying through Old Testament Biblical Theology.
Be praying for us:
1. For us to continue opening our heart to God’s working
2. For us to glorify God when not healthy or when we have no electricity
3. For God to give us wisdom in our next ministry step
4. For our ministries to our family group
We love and miss you all,
Mike and Rachel