This is Andrea’s first time blogging! On Friday March 12th, we headed out to Musana Camps for our first visit as a family. If you remember, Dave was there back in 2008 when he first visited Uganda and helped clear some of the land. The trip from New Hope to Musana is not an easy one. It takes 5-6 hours and a large part of that travel is on very rough roads (ie. on the roughest part it took us 2 ½ hours to go about 20 miles). But it was well worth it and we were so blessed by our weekend there.
What a spot God has chosen! The view from the current building is incredible, and there is a constant breeze coming off the lake to keep it cool. Syd and Andrea Sparks are there alone, building their house and making things happen. During the month of February, they hosted several groups and teams. This weekend (Easter weekend) one of the family groups from New Hope will be going for the first time. We are praying that they are blessed and God uses the ministry at Musana for His glory! Check out the Sparks’ blog from the link on our homepage to find out what has been happening there.
If anything, the weekend got us even more excited about getting out to Musana! It will be challenging going from the New Hope family and community to the empty shores of Lake Victoria, but the Lord has been preparing us for this all along and we are anxious to see what He continues to do. We’re so thankful for our friends, the Sparks and are really excited to work along side them. We would appreciate your prayers, as the enemy would like nothing less than to see us fail at all things, especially in our relationships with those around us, and particularly our family.
Even thought we have about 8 weeks left in the Institute, Dave has finally started handling some of the administrative responsibilities of the camp in order to take some of the pressure off of the Sparks who have been doing everything. Though things are busy, Dave is glad to finally start getting more involved in that way and will be taking on a lot more in 2 months when the Institute ends.
Last weekend we had the opportunity to get away for a little refresher. We had our mid-institute break so we took the family to the town of Jinja, also on Lake Victoria, which is located right at the source of the Nile River. It is so beautiful there! The kids had a blast swimming in a pool and we were able to relax and let our hair down with some other westerners who joined us. Burn-out can be a real danger here and the staff try very hard to get away for a weekend every 6 weeks or so and we were grateful for the chance to do that.
Mike & Judy Snively said...
1Thank you both for sharing so that those of us back Stateside can be praying effectively for your family. Isn’t GOD awesome, HE always know how to keep us excited about being part of what HE is doing in our world. Keep up the good work for HIS GLORY !!!
03/29/10 7:32 AM | Comment Link
Laura Hoffert said...
2Press on, dear friends….it is so sweet to hear of how God is guiding your path and your partnership with Syd and Andrea… Thank you for the reminder to continue to lift you guys up in prayer…it’s true, the enemy wants nothing of sound relationships—praying for you guys today!
03/29/10 8:38 AM | Comment Link