Memory Lane…

These days we are taking many a stroll down memory lane. With the Bakers and Fouts leaving this year, we have just completed filming a “10-year retrospective” video. For the video, we’ve been doing interviews with director Eric Fridge, and many of us have spent hours going through hundreds of photos and what seems like miles of archival video footage.

We also just returned from our last team retreat with the Bakers, and all these goodbyes are really getting the tear ducts to flow…

But one thing these farewells, photos, and videos are doing is reminding us just how amazing and faithful our God is, and what HE has done in ten years of the Ankole Mission here in Uganda. God IS so good!

So if we’re a little bit weepy these days, that’s okay… We’re also laughing through our tears, and smiling in wonder at what the Lord has done - and what He will continue to do through this mission - all glory and praise to Him!

(Eric Fridge filming Andrea Baker in April 2007)

Here are some photos of the Kivu Sun and Lake Kivu in Gisenyi, Rwanda, where we enjoyed our 2007 team retreat…

(Click photos to open up a page with a larger version, then you can click that photo to open up an even larger picture.)

Team Transitions

Our team has been / is / will be in the midst of some major transitions. Last year, Danny and Amy Naramore moved back to the United States in September after five wonderful years of service here in Mbarara. Then Lori Earles went for an extended furlough in preparation for a move to Kenya later on this year. Already, they are all missed!

Now we are preparing for the next round of teammate departures, as well as some welcome additions…

* Original teammates Jay & Andrea Baker will be repatriating in May.

* Team teacher Beth Tunick will be heading back to the US in June.

* Original teammates Nick & Renee Fouts return to the US in October.

* Team teacher Terri Taylor returns to the States, also in October.

* New team teachers Betsy Glover and Desirae Smith will join for a year, beginning in June 2007.

* New teammates Theron and Sara Hutton will arrive in early 2008.

That’s a LOT of changes! And this is a very bittersweet, emotional time for our team, especially as we negotiate these teammate departures. It is a painful, but rich and beautiful thing, saying goodbye to these dear friends…

We ask for your prayers on behalf of our team - everyone who is coming, going, and staying… And please pray that the Lord will continue to work through this team - and the Ugandans - to grow a healthy movement of churches here in Ankole!