Jon and Kristin: Uganda Bound
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Reflections on our life and lessons in uganda

Prayer

10/29/2015

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Jon has written another update/post for us, I think it's great!!!

So, a lot of you who read our blog posts know that Kristin and I are high school leaders at our church. Thanks to the Kristin being on the women's retreat, I have had the pleasure of getting to teach for two weeks in a row. On Friday, we finished Colossians, and in putting the study together, God taught me a few things that I think are important for more than just mission work, but for all of life. I wanted to share with you here something that God taught me about prayer. Here is Colossians 4:2-4
 
2- Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
3- meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,
4- that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
 
Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter to the church at Colossae, we know because here he says that he is in chains for what he calls "the mystery of Christ". But here we also see that even in prison he understands the importance of prayer.
 
Let's put ourselves in his shoes for a second, picture yourself in prison, if you want close your eyes and really put yourself there. A damp dark room, immovable stone walls and the only opening is covered in steel bars keeping you in; chains around your ankles and wrists probably chained to the floor in the middle, just another way of keeping you there. The shackles have been on for so long that your wrists and ankles are constantly sore and bleeding. It's to hot during the day and too cold at night. Underfed, malnourished and dehydrated, thinner than you've ever been, you can see your ribs under your skin and can barely stand from weakness.
 
But even in the midst of this, Paul doesn't say pray that he will get out. He says pray earnestly, be vigilant (that's circumspect and without ceasing) in prayer, and be thankful in your prayers. Then when he does say pray for me, what does he tell them to pray for. Not for his escape or for his rescue, which God is completely capable of, but instead says pray that doors would be opened for the Word of God to move even in prison. He is praying for his guards and for his fellow prison mates, knowing that even in this darkest and most horrific of situations, God is powerful enough to move mountains and to remove the barriers in people's lives and the things that are guarding their hearts to make his name known. Paul knows why he is in prison, it's only because he is a Christian, that's the most unfair reason to be there, but he also trusts that God has not forsaken him. And God has not forsaken you either. That is why no matter what situation you are in, the best prayer you can ever pray is not "God get me out of this", it's "God use me in this situation to make your name known."
 
How much more powerful is that prayer, how much less self-centered. I don't know about you guys, but I have a tendency to pray in a very self-centered way. Usually something like, "God, thanks for all these things that you've done for me, now please do all this other stuff for me too." Man, I am a fool sometimes, just walking in circles it seems like. I can't even think of the last time I prayed a prayer when I didn't ask for something. But God knows every hair on my head, so He must also know my every want and every need, how about instead of pouring out my Christmas list at the cross, I pour out my heart instead. Just once seek after His glory instead of my own.

Prayer Requests: Everything is under way for the house to sell! We close on the 17, pray that God continues to work that out smoothly. Pray that we bless our soon to be roommates (Pastor Matt K and his family) as we live with them until our first deployment.

And remember: THE OFFICIAL COUPALS TO UGANDA HOODIE IS HERE!!
If you want some awesome gear and to support what God's doing now is your chance.
www.booster.com/coupalstouganda
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The Official Coupals to Uganda Hoodie is Here

10/24/2015

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https://www.booster.com/coupalstouganda

Visit this website to get your official Coupals to Uganda Hoodie!! They are available until November 10, and you can choose from 4 different colors!! Contact Kristin for questions.

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Suffering

10/18/2015

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​Some of you know, many don’t, that I have a tattoo on my ankle that has references for several verses. These are the verses that shaped my life or have a special meaning to me. One of those verses is Philippians 1:29. It says, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” I remember clearly the first time I read this verse. I knew I was called to missions in some form or fashion, but this really drove home the idea for me. It doesn’t say, well some of you are going to have to suffer, sorry. It says it has been granted to us, this holds the idea of honor. Being able to believe in Jesus is a gift, and this verse shows us that so is the chance to suffer for Him. It has been GRANTED to us to suffer for Him. I was blown away at the idea that suffering for Jesus could be a gift. 

There’s a great book called Kisses from Katie by a young woman that God is using mightily in Uganda. She states in that book, “I believe with all of my heart that nothing is a sacrifice in light of the promise that one day I will get to live with Him forever. I want to obey, I want to give my life away.” Give my life away. This is an interesting idea because in many ways Jon and I have given our life away (or sold it in a garage sale). Yet there isn’t sorrow in it. We don’t feel jipped, or like God is asking too much. On the contrary, God is giving us a life we couldn’t have dreamed of in exchange for the one we had. Jon taught the high schoolers in our youth group on Friday about dying to ourselves to live to Christ. It is a theme that has come up a lot for me.

In one of the Bible studies at church we are reading through Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 24, the prophet is told he will lose his wife, and later that night she dies. Then God tells him not to mourn outwardly, not to cry, or eat the normal foods, or wear the normal dress for mourning. And here is the really amazing thing,  “So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded (Ezekiel 24:18- emphasis mine). Ezekiel believed and lived out that nothing was too high a cost for serving God, even the person he loved most in the world. This is a very hard-hitting idea for me. 

Elisabeth Elliot has long been my missionary hero. I’ve always been amazed that she lost her husband at the hand of a violent people, and then chooses to walk back into the same place and share the gospel anyway. She believed that God wanted the Auca people reached, and that she was called to it, no matter the price. (For more information on that story, I recommend Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot). I have asked myself many times this week, and in times previous, if there is any cost too high to serve God. Is the risk of having Jon die on the field for the sake of the gospel too high? I don’t think I can answer that question with confidence until (God forbid) the situation arises, none of us could. But I pray everyday in preparation for leaving that God would affirm the answer in my heart that no, there is no cost too high. And I can say with total confidence that I am assured that though Jon loves me dearly, he does not consider my life too high a price to pay for the sake of the gospel. And I would not want it any other way. But maybe that doesn’t just mean the risk of martyrdom…
Suffering is the cost of discipleship in one way or another. It means killing your flesh, walking by faith, risking it all for the sake of being a bondservant of Jesus Christ. In my case, it means giving up toilets, pizza, A/C, my king size bed, our beautiful home, our big ol’ truck (which sold, by the way, praise God!), it means giving up having my family 10 minutes away, and having our friends over on a regular basis, it means taking my life as I know it and giving it away.And right now you may be sitting there thinking ‘well that sounds awful’. And you’d be correct if it weren’t for one thing: love. I love Jesus, I love the lost of Uganda, and I love giving of myself to serve both. The suffering of this life is temporary, but NOTHING can replace the new life given when we give ours up. It is not painful to give up our life for the sake of the gospel, because our life isn’t ours anyway. I guess I’ll finish up with this quote that Jon really likes; it’s from a missionary headed to a group of cannibals. When James Clavert was begged by his ship’s captain not to go to the cannibals insisting they would surely die, he responded with “we were dead before we came here”. While there may be suffering in this life to follow Jesus, it is but a fleck of dust compared to the wonder and majesty of seeing souls saved and being able to worship in eternity with those same souls.

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