“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””                    John 8:31-32

Last month we finished our update by telling you about the guys who would end up meeting at our house for discipleship. That picture above is who all was here last Tuesday as we worshiped God together and looked at His Word. John 8:31-32 is our theme verse and we read it and talk about it every time we meet, which is every Tuesday. The guys show up around 6 pm and we have tea and bread together, than we play some worship songs before studying Scripture. Right now we are going through 1 Peter, and I plan to continue from that point through Jude, which should take just a few years. Sometimes the meetings go smoother than other times, especially when we have a good translator and someone who can read Acholi:). When that is not the case we just play worship together and break bread!

Work wise things have been going along at a fast pace out here as I have been trying to balance between my roles and responsibilities as a manager at the BAM (Business As Mission) and as a teacher at the School of Discipleship for the pastors. That balance is not always easy to find since there are always so many pressing needs on both ends.
This month has been a doozy at the BAM since we are down multiple people; our receptionist at the clinic is on maternity leave and her replacement got malaria, our head manager is going to school for a few weeks and one of our main guys got in a boda boda (the little motorcycles they drive around Africa) accident…. So as you can imagine we have all been working over time to keep the ball from being dropped. Please pray for Stephen, who got in the accident, for Irene as she stays up at night with her new born son, and for Daniel as he recovers from Malaria. Daniel also has sickle cell, so this Malaria spell came very near to killing him.

Prep for the new class of pastors is almost over, they arrive at church tomorrow evening for there first of 36 weeks living together at Calvary Chapel Gulu. During that week they will study through Gen 1-11, the foundation of Gods Word and the origin of all things. If a person can get a firm grasp on these 11 chapters of the Bible they can understand nearly everything else in Scripture. Please pray for me as I teach next week, on Thursday I will be covering the cursing of Canaan, which is a very sensitive issue since most evangelicals throughout Africa believe that all of their misfortunes can be traced back to that event in Gen 9.

You should also know that Noelle, Noah and the girls are doing well. Emma has started joining the nursery school that our ministry runs for P.E. and she has really been enjoying that. Madeline is just as cute as ever, it has been a blast watching her interact with the world around her. Noelle is nearly done recovering from her surgery but could use your prayers for her strength as I am trying to hold the reigns on BAM and the school. Please pray for Noah because he has a small fever right now and a cough.  As for myself, I am very proud to announce that I am an official resident of Uganda and I have a 3 year work permit!

In Christ
Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah