Transitions

Dear Praying Friends,

We are finally in Africa! After months (even years) of planning, preparation, and waiting, we arrived in Africa on August 24. After getting Celeste settled at her Aunt Bonnie’s house in Kenya, where she’ll be staying during the school year, Pam and I loaded our bags into a rented SUV ($55/day, driver included) and headed for Kampala, Uganda.

 

First Impressions of Africa

“Write everything down that seems different or unique when you first get here,” we were told at Orientation, “because after about six months it will just seem normal.” Here are some of the sights on our 12-hour road trip.

 

·        A young zebra playfully nipping at its mother’s hindquarters.

·        A flock of flamingos staking out their territory on an outlying lake

·        Twin lambs racing neck-and-neck up a grassy slope.

·        Daredevil drivers routinely risking head-on collisions in futile efforts to avoid the large potholes (and small craters) in the highway.

·        Heavy trucks loaded higher than they are long tamping fragments of broken pavement into the clay roadbed.

·        Roadside vendors hawking fruit, carrots and potatoes. We politely decline ears of roasted corn which appear to ontain more germs than a bio-hazard facility.

·        A young mother, baby secured in the shawl on her back, anxiously awaiting a break in traffic, so she can sprint across the road.

·        Homely baboons scrounging for anything edible among heaps of refuse. It all screams, “AFRICA!”

 

Adjusting (sort of)

Life here in Uganda moves at a slower pace. No one seems to be in a hurry (except those who happen to be behind the wheel of a vehicle), and it’s a good thing, because it takes longer just to LIVE here. For example, do you remember the last time you had a long wait at the DMV and wondered why things couldn’t be done more efficiently? I just returned from my SIXTH trip to the Ugandan equivalent. Each hour-plus-long episode enabled me to get a little bit more done in the process of licensing an automobile and transferring the title. I thought today was my last trip, but the friendly attendant told me, “Come back Monday.” One-stop shopping hasn’t caught on here yet.

 

Cooking takes longer, because almost everything has to be made from scratch. Cleaning is time-consuming, because things get dirty faster. Pam is working like a Trojan just to maintain some semblance of order in the house.

 

Perhaps the biggest adjustment is being “empty-nesters” sooner than we anticipated. We do miss our kids and look forward to their daily emails. Pam finds comfort by doting on the three Labrador Retrievers  and one Dachshund that came with the house we are renting.

 

We thank God for our team-mates, Curtis and Chris DuBose, who are doing everything they can to help us make a smooth transition into life and ministry here. It bothers us to know that for now we are adding to their already heavy work loads, but they are very gracious, ministering to us with servants’ spirits and the love of Jesus.

 

Westminster Theological College

While the living adjustments keep us on our knees seeking God’s grace, the ministry here is a cause for rejoicing. Because we have so many other things to do in terms of orientation materials, language training, and getting settled, I am teaching only one course this semester. It is called “Church Planting and Polity.”

 

The students are eager to learn and are hungry for God’s Word. As any Bible teacher can tell you, that makes teaching a real joy. Pray with us that out of this class, God will raise up at least two men to serve as church planters next year.move to Waynesville, North Carolina, where we plan to stay until the remainder of our financial support comes in. From there comes the even bigger move – to Uganda!

 

Praise God for…

·        Praise God for…

·         A wonderful summer culminating in a warm send-off from our North Carolina friends.

·         Provision of sufficient funding to allow us to be released to the field.

·         Safety in travel and the eventual arrival of all our luggage.

·         A ministry team we feel we “click with.”

·         A beautiful, furnished home in which to live from now through December.

·         Both of our children’s settling in well at school.

 

Prayer Bullets

·         Grace as we adjust to a new country and profoundly different living conditions.

·         Continuing provision for all of our spiritual, emotional and material needs.

·         That our ministry team of both national and missionary workers would grow closer and function more effectively.

·        Bruce’s church planting course, that one or two new church planters will emerge from it.

·        Wisdom for Pam to know which of the myriad of ministry opportunities is God’s best for her.

·        Celeste as she adapts to a rigorous schedule at Rift Valley Academy after having her mother as her 10th grade teacher.

·        Tim as he begins his second year at Covenant College, that he may continue to walk with the Lord and to receive His direction and provision.

·        Guidance regarding where we should move in January.

·        Our former neighbors in the Gulf Coast region who continue to suffer from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina.

 

THANKS FOR PRAYING!

 

Your weak but strong-in-Christ missionaries,

Bruce and Pam Sinclair

 

Westminster Theological College

P.O. Box 21312

Kampala, Uganda

EAST AFRICA

 

Phone: 011-256-41-268-419