Snow

The weather forecast mentioned the possibility of Christmas snow.  It was predicting it might appear in the Seattle area on the 25^th.  Well, it is Christmas snow.  Christmas season that is.  It arrived on the 26^th.

Pre-dawn

Mid-day

Five and a half inches (fourteen centimeters) as of this picture; however, the depth near the building can be less that what we really received due to the building heat.

Christmas

A small family Christmas.

Christmas pageant

I attended St Andrew’s early Christmas eve service online.  The previous Sunday there was an announcement encouraging people to think about the online option because of the anticipated crowds and the rising concern over the new CoVid variant. 

The pageant covered the lessons as they told the story of Christmas.  Several children sang solos or duets.  There were also a few songs sung by the whole group.

It was great to have the churches open for Christmas and the youth doing a pageant this year.

Christmas

This year I am with family in the US.  We were going to get together for Christmas dinner, but the omicron variant of the corona virus has health officials suggesting we limit the number of households that attend a gathering.  There is also the possibility of snow in the forecast.  My uncle is also getting older (aren’t we all?) and he needs more help these days than he did in the past.  It could all be too much, so we called off the get together.

I am enjoying a quiet Christmas day with mom. I hope you are enjoying Christmas too.

Merry Christmas.

Prison Ministry in Koboko

I was asked to come to Koboko several years ago now, to come and help start a prison ministry.  God showed me some of what He was doing.  How he was preparing me.  That this is from Him.  That he blessed the connections that allowed us to meet and talk about the possibilities.

There have been many concerns and I am sure more will emerge.  One of the big ones was ‘is this a whim? Or is this a ministry that has life and serves God?’

There have been many signs along the way.  Let me name a few of those I have seen in 2021.

+ God is using word of mouth to get the word out and then moving people’s hearts to join the team that visits the prison.

+ The team continues meeting despite the prison being locked down at this time.

+ The team’s desire to do something.  The team is now visiting the hospital to pray for patients twice a month.  (Was one time a month, the hospital administration asked for the increase.)

+ The team expressed an interest in, and attendance increased as we studied the foundations of our faith.

+ The team wants to organize itself so that it is prepared to reach out to others who are bereaved.

+ The ministry has continued while I have been away.

Medical outreach

Truth is Light (T.I.L.) is a small group of like-minded individuals serving God in various fields.  They came together to help each other and to strengthen God’s ministry through them.  A couple of years ago I was blessed to join them in Uganda.  The core team is mostly African (Ugandan and South Sudanese).  We have a few missionaries, a Kenyan and a few US Americans (including me) who were invited to come along side and share in the ministry.

One of the fields that T.I.L. serves in is the medical needs of the community.  We have one trained nurse who volunteers at the local hospital.  We also have a partner in Hope for Restoration Initiative (H4RI).  H4RI is based in the South-central portion of Uganda in Entebbe, which is near the capital of Kampala.  It is an urban region.  T.I.L. is in the Northwest corner of the country (a full day’s drive away), which is a rural region. 

H4RI had an opportunity to obtain basic medical supplies in quantity.  They shared some of these in their region, and then partnered with T.I.L. to meet the needs of a rural community in NW Uganda that struggles with basic health care.  Mugujai is on the border with South Sudan and has a large refugee population that is in need.  Together H4RI and T.I.L. reached out to the people of Mugujai through a local church.  We held a one-day seminar on basic first aid and distributed the supplies.  More than three hundred people were trained and equipped with basic supplies.

Evansville

Rev. Laura and Bob’s neighborhood in Evansville has a Christmas tradition.  The children in the neighborhood are invited to write letters to Santa and “post them” in a special mailbox set up by one of the neighbors who takes delight in answering the letters (as Santa).

Evansville

I was invited to speak at St. Lucas, Evansville about the prison ministry work God is doing through me in Uganda.  I was in Evansville in early December.  Rev. Laura and her husband Bob took me to a drive through a Christmas light display in Evansville.  (Note: I need more practice taking pictures from a car.)

They also showed me a multi-story tall Santa at another location in Evansville.

Piano

All through the process of moving mom, the question was how to move the piano and to where.  After the sale was complete (and closing scheduled), a senior center accepted the piano.  Becky, who has been an immense help to mom throughout the move, found a piano mover that could manage the steps and arrive before we had to be out of the house. 

They arrived an hour and a half before we had to be out of the house.

Baby grand piano in the otherwise empty house.

Preparing the piano for the move.

Taking the second set of legs off (for the move).

Taking the pedals off.

All bundled up and secured for the move.

Out the door and down the first set of steps.

Christmas Squirrel

I helped mom pull some of the Christmas decorations out of storage.  We did not get them all, so the manger is still waiting for Mary and Joseph to arrive in Bethlehem.  But we did, despite the move and storing so many things, decorate (a little) for Christmas.

One of the many things in the box we did get out was the Christmas Squirrel.  Aaaw nuts!  We put new batteries in, so if anyone has the courage, or if my younger nephew visits, it will sing.  He took a liking to it many years ago.

The song the squirrel sings is “I’m gettin’ nuttin’ for Christmas.”