Last two issues of "Watch & Pray"

Here are the last two installments of our "Watch & Pray" update. I overlooked posting the previous one on the blog, so here is that one and the one I've sent out today.

23 April 2010

We have two situations for which we ask you to join us in prayer right now.

1) We need wisdom for deciding whether to try to keep renting the house in Mbale in which we have lived the past few years, or let it go. We have been hoping that our new coworkers, Darin and Stephanie Northam and their children, would be able to use the house from late May when they arrive in Uganda. There's a new landlord as of the past several months, however, and he has been very difficult to deal with so far. We are praying that he will either change his attitude so that it will be feasible for the Northams to use the house for at least a year or so until we return to Uganda; or that the Lord will direct us to another housing solution with a landlord who appreciates good renters. This decision has major implications for what we will do during the three weeks that we visit Mbale this summer (it would be nice not to have to spend the whole time making arrangements to move to another house!).

2) We need to apply for new passports for several of us, including Emily. Somehow our copy of her adoption order has gone missing, and we need that for her passport application. As we look for the lost document here in Abilene, we have also been working on getting an official copy of the adoption order from the high court archive in Mbale. As is often the case when one needs a paper from that bureaucratic maze, it's taking a long time. After about three weeks of process, we're still waiting for a file that was finally located, but had to be sent to Kampala, then retrieved and brought back to Mbale. It's supposed to be there Friday and maybe to be available for someone to send to us Monday. Time is getting short to be able to complete the normal passport-application process, so we are praying earnestly that we either find the missing paper here or get the certified copy from Uganda in the next few days.

Please pray that in the midst of everything else that is going on we receive grace to rest and trust in the Lord, not to stress out with anxiety or frustration over these things. God is good, and he is in control.

Watch and pray!

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14 May 2010

It's good to have a report of answered prayer for you. We received a certified copy of Emily's adoption order a few days ago and were able to submit it along with her passport application. We have deposited a rent payment on the house in Mbale for the period until the end of August, and there has been no further negative remark from the landlord. We feel considerable relief regarding both of these issues, and do thank God for his help and you for your prayers!

Let us mention three other matters for your help in prayer:

1. Leila leaves for Uganda Sunday, 16 May, for a three-week visit. She will be traveling with our coworker Phillip Shero. Please pray for safety and help on their trip, and for blessings on Leila's visit in Mbale.

2. Our new coworkers Darin & Stephanie Northam and their kids move from Texas to Mbale later this month. We pray for them with thanksgiving for God's provison of spiritual and financial support, and for more grace every day (James 4:6) as they make this major life and ministry transition.

3. We are praying for the Lord's help and wisdom as the five of children who are in public schools finish our their semester and we prepare for a trip to Uganda June 27 - July 19. Ian is also planning to take three more graduate courses during the summer as he continues work on his degree at Texas Tech University.

Watch and pray!


Ian, Danetta, Leila, Josiah, Nathanael, Jonathan, Luke, Emily, and Asher
____________________________________________________
Ian & Danetta Shelburne

http://safariyetu.blogspot.com
http://livingstone.ac.ug

Tel. 325 267 0605

"Watch & pray" is an occasional prayer update from the Shelburne family, sent by Northwest Church of Christ to serve with the Mbale Mission Team in Mbale, Uganda.

Donations may be sent to this address:
Northwest Church of Christ
Uganda Mission
1509 Ben Richey Dr
Abilene, TX 79602-7971

Please let us know if you would prefer not to receive these updates, or if you would like us to add to our list the email address of someone else who would like to receive them.

It's a key!

IMG_0018
Originally uploaded by ian.shelburne

Asher's imagination keeps him entertained with whatever's at hand. The last few days he's been picking up squatty little sticks and wood chips and handing them out to any takers as "keys." Here he's showing off one that he found at the zoo Saturday.

Family Picture: At the Zoo

IMG_0004
Originally uploaded by ian.shelburne

During Leila's time home for Harding's spring break, we visited the Abilene zoo. One of our agenda items was to get a family picture or two along the way, so here's one of 'em.

18 January 2010 -- A Look Back & Ahead

Hello from Abilene, Texas!

The past year has been one of major changes for our family. We have been in the United States since the middle of 2009 on an extended furlough / sabbatical time. Currently we expect to remain in Abilene at least until Josiah graduates from high school in June 2011. Having not spent more than five months on this side of the Atlantic in 13 years, this has been quite an adjustment for us!

Our daughter Leila is half-way through her first year of studies at Harding University Searcy, Arkansas. She has been doing extremely well academically and is pleased with having made or continued quite a number of rewarding friendships. Josiah and Nathanael attend Abilene High School, where they have adjusted to a different and much more populous academic environment. Their studies are going well, and Nathanael has been active in the football program. Jonathan and Luke are at Craig Middle School, where Luke especially likes the library and is in the choir, while Jonathan is involved in band and tennis. Emily goes to Taylor Elementary School and exercises her particular talent for making lots of friends, both at school and in the neighborhood where we live. Asher stays busy at home "helping" Danetta with laundry and many other household tasks, and he is quite accomplished at entertaining himself with toys, books, and a variety of imaginary friends to play with and bad guys/monsters to fight.

Danetta has her hands full maintaining our busy household and keeping up with a host of school events. She usually works as a substitute teacher one day a week at one of the children's schools, and also participates in a weekly Bible study and a mothers' prayer group, along with various activities in our home church (Northwest).

Ian is part of the Northwest church preaching/teaching ministry, speaking one Sunday a month and leading a Bible study Wednesday evenings. He is also taking courses for a doctoral degree from Texas Tech University, and hopes to have most of the necessary classes apart from his major research project completed before returning to Uganda.

The extra time that we have in the United States has meant more time to strengthen our relationship with our sending church in Abilene, and also more opportunities to be with our families than we have had in a long time. At the same time, we greatly miss the close association that we are used to having with coworkers in Uganda, whose friendship we treasure deeply. Living between two worlds is not easy! But we are greatly blessed by people on two continents who love, support, and encourage us with extraordinary generosity.

We hope in late June/early July this year to spend a short time in Uganda to visit our mission team and other friends there, and to make some necessary arrangements in connection with our being in the U.S. longer than we had originally expected.

We pray that 2010 will be for all of you a season of blessing, and that each of us will find opportunities to share with others the good that we receive.

Grace and peace,

Ian, Danetta, Leila, Josiah, Nathanael, Jonathan, Luke, Emily and Asher