On the road again (sing it like Willie Nelson)

Keeping you in the loop through Fred (Langeland)  – one of four servant-guests serving at The Way Home this week  with Russ: – 

 
Fred writes:  Third day on the road today.  Began with a beautiful sunrise – see  below – and then we saddled up and rode about 1-1/2 hr. to our first stop.  Really out there but the ride was beautiful.  Tim Johnson rode with us, too.  We stopped at only eight granny homes today because of the remote locations.  We saw some beautiful babies today but were saddened to see that they were all wearing witchcraft bracelets.  Even those who convert to Christianity often maintain their previous practices of black magic and ancestor worship.  It’s really hard to see that knowing that they will never know the abundant life in Christ unless they can be led away from the old practices.  Many of the Christian pastors here are uneducated and preach a gospel that isn’t really the Gospel.  More on what The Way Home Africa is working on to help with that later.

We saw some beautiful gardens today – we were really impressed at one stop where there are three grannies in immediate proximity to each other and they have teamed up to do some major power-gardening.  Many hands make light work.  Their gardens produce a very abundant harvest and they not only feed their grandchildren, but also can sell enough excess to pay for all of their school fees.  This concept really works when it’s applied and worked hard at.

As we visited some gardens that are a few years old it was really neat to see how the soil develops over time using the Farming God’s Way method.  The soil here is naturally a gritty red clay.  It is not particularly fertile and is even hard on farming implements due to the angular abrasive nature of the grit in it.  The Farming God’s Way method of using planting holes instead of tilling the soil, covering the garden with mulch to retain moisture and minimize soil compaction, and returning the spent plants to the soil results in a rich, dark topsoil after only a couple growing seasons.  It was very cool to see that the neighbors of the grannies being served by The Way Home Africa / Farming God’s Way partnership are taking notice and beginning to employ the same methods themselves.  This is really a game changer for the folks over here.

We had a little excitement on the way  back this afternoon.  The rainy season is moving in and we were doing our best to skirt a big thunderstorm but just a couple miles from home base we were nailed by a pretty nasty hail storm and had to pull off in a small town and take shelter under a canopy with a large group of local men.  They looked at us like we’re freaks but nobody bothered us.  We often wave to people as we blast down the back roads and they wave back, give us a big grin and yell “mzungu!”.  The Ugandan people are very friendly and helpful.

bodas in the hail

The Way Home- Backroads Tour Day 2

One of The Way Home’s guest-servants this week, blogs about his second day on the roads to photo journal our granny families with Heather:

OUR SECOND DAY ON THE BACKROADS

 
Fred writes:  We spent another day on the backroads of Uganda visiting with 13 grannies at their homes.  We observed several fine gardens being prepared for planting.  They’re prepping the planting holes now and will plant the seed in another week or two when the next semi-annual rainy season begins.  We also prayed with each one that their garden would produce abundantly.  No all of them have gardens – we’ve met a few who are blind and one today wasn’t able to get up from her mat on the floor – but some of them we’ve seen have been astounding.  While the grand kids are away at school the grannies work on preparing and maintaining their gardens.  The idea is that they will be able to raise enough crop to not only feed their family but also enough extra to sell so they can pay the kids’ school fees.  If you can’t pay, you don’t go to school here.

We’re learning many things about how to best to help people in other cultures work their way out of poverty.  It’s so easy as westerners to want to just put together a team, write a check, and fix the problem.  We can see, though, the dependency problems that creates.  As we ride the bodas  through the little towns along the way we can hear the kids calling out for money from the mzungus.  When we pull into the villages it’s like the circus just pulled into town.  People come from all around the village to see what we have brought for them.  It’s encouraging to see how The Way Home Africa is working to break that cycle with the people they serve.  They’re working hard to fade into the background as they train up more and more Ugandans to do the work on the ground.  They’re also willing to apply tough love in situations where the recipients sit back on their hands expecting the work to be done for them.  
Well tomorrow it’s back to the bush on our trusty bodas and will be joined on our journey for a day by Tim Johnson.  Please continue to pray for us and for the work of The Way Home Africa.
Fred in Nasuti                   Heather and granny Amina
baby in granny village road trip                 sunrise nasuti

Beating Around the Bush

The Way Home’s “Servant’s Retreat” in the discipleship village is filled this week with….well…Servants!  Let us share the blog of one of those servants, Fred Langeland, who has come with one of our two senior advocate’s, Heather Osborn to accomplish a very BIG job…photo journaling our, now 60, Granny Families:
Fred writes:  Today was an adventure unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.  We were on dirt  bikes literally beating through the African bush.  When I talk about Africa I normally hesitate to use words like “bush” and “village.”  In one of my classes in Bible college we had a student from Africa and I remember her complaining that Americans all thought everybody in Africa grew up in a grass hut out in the bush.  She was from a modern city and found our presumption both ignorant and arrogant.  Well, we weren’t in the city today!  We visited 17 granny homes, meeting with them, taking photos, and looking at their gardens.  We were really in the African bush.  We went down roads that weren’t even roads – some of them just a path between villages.  If we had lost our leader you never would have seen Heather or me again – there was no way to know where we were or where the next turn would lead.  I’d be building our grass huts as you read this.

My being here is an incredible gift and an experience I don’t want to squander on myself.  I believe God provided the means for me to be here for a reason.  Today in the solitude of my motorcycle helmet I recalled a thought from our devotions last night.  The person who shared it didn’t remember where she got it so I can’t cite credit but it goes like this:  “In Christian life and witness so much is lost because we are indefinite.  The devil is not worried by our pious aspirations.  He is troubled when, in obedience to God, for the glory of Christ and in the power of the Spirit, we make firm practical decisions to do specific things for the Lord.”  Pious aspirations.  Ever have any of those?  To be the best wife or husband your spouse could ever dream of.  To be the dad that yours wasn’t.  To get out of debt.  To save for a secure retirement.  To have deep conversations with your kids so they don’t make the same mistakes you did.  To be a godly man or woman.  I’ve certainly had more than my share of them and many of them have ended in my being indefinite.  My prayer is that through this experience I’ll move beyond pious aspirations about spreading the gospel to the poor in Africa into practical decisions to do specific things.  In obedience to God.  For the glory of Christ.  In the power of the Spirit.

Joy & Purpose giving this Christmas!

FAMILY investing in FAMILY this CHRISTMAS

One Family decided this Christmas their family gift exchange would set a NEW tradition. A tradition of giving that will make a real difference in the lives of FAMILY. Instead of choosing names and dollar limits for a family gift exchange … they decided to pool their family giving dollars and build a house.  Not just any house, but a house for a destitute Widow struggling to raise her own orphaned grandchildren after burying  her own children.

The Way Home identifies these women living in poor conditions, often living in mud huts in remote areas of Uganda.   For just $2,200 you can bless a grandmother this Christmas with a new brick home!  In addition to their new home, they will receiving training and mentoring for sustainable farming through Farming God’s Way Biblical Worldview program.  This farming program will assist the grandmother in increasing her yield up to ten times and, most importantly, Faith in God’s provision.   Each new home purchased also includes a latrine as well as weekly Bible teaching and preventative medicine.

Celebrate the birth of Jesus by making a difference this Christmas, prayerfully consider giving a new home for a widow in place of a family gift exchange, office exchange or just because you want to make an impact this year.

 FAMILY GIFT EXCHANGE 

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