Urbancrest is in Uganda

If it is normal for the church to be a point of departure to missions and ministry (and it is, see my previous blogs: The New Normal Part 1 & 2) then it is also the responsibility of the church to care for and encourage those they send as extensions of the ministry of the church. As the Bogan family and Ron & Darlene Whitmer were moving and adjusting to their new life and ministry in Uganda, it was a great privilege for me to be able to go visit them.

Linda and I arrived in Uganda on October 14, 2011. Our first days were spent with Aaron & Dana Bogan and their four children Nicholas, Dylan, Marie, and Joey. It is amazing to see how quickly they have adapted to missionary life in Uganda. Aaron has begun his teaching duties at the Uganda Baptist Seminary. He is teaching a course in Old Testament Survey to two different classes each day. He is up every morning at 5:30am and in the classroom by 6:30am. His day usually ends around 4:00pm. Of course, he then has to prepare his lessons to teach the next day. This is his schedule Monday through Saturday, and he has Sunday off. It sounds pretty grueling, but when Aaron talks about his work it is with joy and excitement. You can easily tell it is his passion, and passion is never work.

Dana is home schooling the children and has already found every resource available for that in Jinja. There is even a store that sells the chemistry supplies that keep Nicholas and Dylan busy with schoolwork. Marie and Joey are the happy, outgoing children they have always been. It is a blessing to see this called and obedient family interacting with their new environment in such positive way. Contentment is a promise of God for those committed to follow His plan for their lives.

God has blessed them with a beautiful home that their IMB missionary partners found and made ready for them. It is much more that they expected, and at much less cost than believable even for Uganda. Their lives here have already touched the Ugandan neighbors near them as well as those working with them.

The Whitmers were out of the country for a short time the first days of our visit. Ron & Darlene Whitmer returned to Uganda on Tuesday from Thailand. Caren, their daughter-in-law, went to Thailand on a medical mission with Caring Partners from Franklin, Ohio. Darlene’s brother lives in Thailand and they had all met up for a small family reunion. In Uganda since June, the Whitmers have been busy hosting mission teams on Bavuma Island, strengthening the work that is being done in the schools, and ministering in the prisons.

Settling in has been a bit slower for them. They just this week moved into their apartment. Up to now they have been staying in a guest house. Aside from the inconvenience of not having a place to unpack, they too are adjusting very well. Since they spent much of their summer on the island, they were too busy to notice.

Urbancrest is in Jinja, Uganda. That seems unfathomable to me, but it is true. Whatever God calls these missionaries to do, He calls Urbancrest to do. They are obedient. We must be obedient as their resource. They are His instruments of the gospel, and we hold the ropes. May God help us to be obedient to pray for them, to encourage them, and to resource their needs and the needs of their ministries.