House update

As many of you may know, we have been hoping and planning to build a house on campus here at Good Shepherd's Fold. Right now we are living in a duplex which is located right in the middle of the campus. We are so very glad and thankful to be living on campus, but our current location makes quiet time a challenge. There is always something going on and it is hard to find a time and place to be alone. 

Those of you who know us well, know that is particularly challenging for David, but I have struggled with it also. All the missionaries on the team who have lived in this house have agreed that it is not a good long term solution for missionary families. Since this duplex is right alongside all of the children's houses, the goal is to convert this house into another house for children. Here is a picture of Elijah taking guitar lessons on our current front porch. 

We are very excited about the idea of building a home for our family toward the back of the campus. It is beautiful and a quite a bit quieter. Here is the view from where we hope to put a front porch. The roofs below are from the children's houses and there will likely be a vegetable garden in some of the open space between. 

We have met with an architect several times and we now have house plans. A team from Engineering Ministries International came and help to plan where to locate our house on the campus, along with helping to develop a master plan for our campus. Yesterday David and Daniel, a missionary serving with EMI who will help oversee the building of our house, are meeting with a potential foreman. David recognized the man from the church we attended in Jinja and has actually prayed with him in small groups during the worship service a few times. David was very encouraged by their meeting. It is exciting to see the progress as we prepare to begin building. 

Then, yesterday, our team leader and our Ugandan administrator were summoned to the local police station because someone claims that the land was not  the properly sold to GSF. They are claiming that the documents we have from the previous "owners" are false and the land belongs to this person instead. It is odd these claims came through the police since it ought to have been challenged through the legal system. Apparently land disputes are very common here in Uganda. GSF went through a lot to purchase this land and check these documents, so we believe that these claims are false, but we don't yet know how or when this issue will be resolved. 

For now we are moving forward with planning to build, but we will not begin work on the land until this issue has been resolved. Please pray with us as we wait on the Lord to build a home here. I have been thinking of a few verses that remind me to submit my will to the Lord's. "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:1 and "Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor in vain; unless the Lord protects a city, its guards stand watch in vain." Psalm 127:1 I hope these verses encourage you also as things do not always go as planned in your life. We are learning to trust God with more each day, health, housing, my tongue, my children, our financial support, etc. it is good to grow in dependence on the Lord through each situation. God is good, all the time! And all the time, God is good!