There’s been so much happening in our lives lately on a personal and ministry level.  The days just roll on and on and become a blur.  All too often, you stop and realize that God has become a blur too.  You know he’s there and you don’t doubt it, but you can’t quite make him out clearly and really see him all the time.  When that happens, it seems like life just kind of happens “to you” and I have come to really dislike that state of being.  Good things happen to you, bad things happen to you, and average every day things happen to you.  I have really come to believe that when this happens, it’s more than just normal boring life.  It’s a potentially life-killing enemy.

Picture a curtain on a stage.  It is closed.  You can hear people living life behind the curtain.  Just day to day things. But what would happen if the curtain suddenly opened and everyone got to see what was going on?  What if they described to you what they heard and then saw when you thought no one was even paying attention?

This kind of happened to us recently and we now know it was God who opened the curtain and shared what he saw.  He did it through some co-staff at New Hope that we’ve been building a closer relationship with.  It just so happens that they have served together in pastoral and counseling ministry…not bad friends to have!  In spending some time with our family, they heard some things and saw some things that concerned them in our marriage relationship in particular, and even how it was affecting our kids.  They had the love and boldness led by the Spirit to share these concerns with us.  The curtain was thrown open.  While they didn’t think we were on the edge of a cliff about to fall off, they were concerned that we had started sliding towards the cliff w/o even knowing it.  Just as dangerous.  They cared too much to do nothing, so they shared what they saw and heard.  Wow.  Didn’t see that coming.

It would have been easy to even be a little offended, but right away we sensed that the Holy Spirit was speaking to us through them and we chose to open up and listen.  This led to getting together and spending some good uninterrupted time with them working through some things and praying through some things.  It is still amazing to me to look back at this (which just happened like 2 weeks ago) and see how clearly and how powerfully God spoke to us about some deep and significant things.  We are so grateful for our friends that loved us enough to appropriately confront, but we give the glory to God and know it was all his doing.

Some people say that God hates sin and cannot be in it’s presence and that it invokes his wrath.  While that very well may be true somehow, I tend to think that God doesn’t really look at our sin and flesh and failures…primarily.  He looks at US with an affectionate and unconditional love that is so strong he doesn’t want us to sin because he knows it will pull us away from truth, from his loving arms.  It will keep the curtain closed like a veil over our hearts and prevent us from letting him into our lives – as if he doesn’t know all of what happening already.  God doesn’t sit around judging and condemning sin.  I think he sits around with his thought bent on leading and guiding us to choose to keep the curtain open and let him inside our lives.  He is the best thing we can ever have, and he is what we were created to have.  He is good.  He is love.  He is mercy and forgiveness.  He restores.  A perfect God can only be loving if he shares his goodness and glory with us.  That’s why he exposes sin and confronts us.  It’s out of love.

While all of this was happening, we started reading the book, “Love & Respect” by Emerson Eggerichs.  We had heard good things about this book and wow…the recommendations were on point.  The cool thing is that it all flowed with what God showed us through our time with our friends, though it was unrelated in the sense that the book was not “homework” or something, we chose to read it on our own.  Yet it really has exposed where certain tensions that have been in our marriage for a long time were coming from.  It’s not necessarily anything new or ground breaking when you think about it, but the basic premise of the book is based on the title.  Women need to be loved, and men need to be respected.  When this is not happening properly, this crazy cycle of defensiveness, fighting, and walls starts spinning round and round.  We would recommend the book to anyone.  A word of caution, it is rather redundant and that could definitely be a turn off for some people.  But we have really experienced how much choosing to live out these biblically based principles is making a difference in our relationship.  I believe it can in your too.  It’s not just for singles either, there are core principles that affect any male/female relationship to a certain degree.

We are thankful that God removed the curtain between himself and his children when Christ died for us.  And slowly by slowly, he’s removing curtains that we keep putting up ourselves.  May we all find the joy and freedom of living life with God center stage while the curtains are not just tied back, but taken outside and burned forever.  He may provide someone to help you do it, and it’s more than worth it.

August 3rd marked our one year anniversary of living and serving at Musana Camps of New Hope Uganda.  I blinked, and a year went by.  The 31st of this month marks my _ _th birthday, which serves as a reminder that I am soon going to be labeled “middle-aged.”  Joy and elation.

But life transcends time and birthdays and anniversaries and milestones and lows and setbacks and periods of growth and all the ongoing cycles of our time on this floating sphere.  Indeed much of what I experienced this past year living in the bush of rural Uganda on the shores of Lake Victoria reminds me that I am just a speck in a really really big universe, and there’s something much bigger going on than the story of my small life.  It’s like there’s this big God that is the one it all revolves around, and I am just a miniscule part of HIS story orbiting around Him…whether I want to believe it…or accept it or not.

Much of this year involved new experiences that I often found myself in the middle of, scratching my head, thinking, “This is crazy.  Am I living someone else’s life?  How did I get here?  There must be some mistake.  I should be home in America falling asleep on the couch on a Sunday afternoon while watching the New England Patriots have another story book season and then lose to a team they’re better than so Tom Brady can cry about how rough he’s had it!”  VBS and Boy Scouts and summer camp and being class president in college didn’t prepare me for dealing with an angry mob that is cutting down trees and threatening to shed blood if they are confiscated.  My Sunday School teacher never said, “Let’s look at the book of Deuteronomy where Jehovah will explain how to talk yourself out of getting a traffic ticket from a Ugandan police officer who wants to exploit a Muzungu (white person) because all whites are incredibly rich, even though you didn’t really do anything wrong.”

On a more serious note, I never really imagined someone coming to my door saying, “Muzungu, can you help me?  This 13 year old girl living with me is not my daughter, but I’m caring for her because her parents both died of HIV and she was raped by her father before he died, and I can’t afford to feed her or pay her school fees.  You have money…will you help her?”  I wasn’t quite prepared to hear hear the guy sitting in the passenger seat of my car tell me as I drove him back into the city that he can’t take the job of being a Security Guard for me at the camp because the property is too big and hilly, and he has HIV and it would wear him out too much to have to do the boundary patrols of our 900+ acres.  I also didn’t expect to hear him talk about how he had been abducted…twice…by Joseph Kony’s rebel army in northern Uganda…only to escape…twice…and live to tell about it and how he has sat face to face and talked with Kony himself.  I wasn’t surprised to watch his eyes tear up as he talked about being forced to kill his best friend and others from his own village or face torture and death himself.  I knew I would eventually hear children talk about growing up as an orphan and being mistreated and abused and left to fend for themselves and exploited in the midst of their suffering and starving to death, withdrawing into a life of survival and self-protection.  What I didn’t know was that I would hear a similar story from close to 7 out of 10 Ugandans I have met whom I now call my friends and family.

But perhaps what has taken my breath away and left me amazed the most, is how many of the people who have shared life stories filled with unimaginable pain and suffering have a smile on their face and and gratitude in their heart and praise on their lips for God…because they have experienced his goodness and grace and have a hope and an expectation of a life of restoration and inexpressible joy that awaits them on the other side of the grave.

I have eaten a lot of humble pie in Uganda.

Yet in the midst of all of that and much more I won’t go into now, I still struggle to get outside of myself each day, pick up my cross, and follow Jesus with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  In light of the lives of countless people I’ve met and sat and talked with here in Uganda, my life has been a cake-walk and I have been blessed beyond measure due to no merit of my own.  Still I continue to struggle with many weaknesses that are all basically rooted in the same thing: Self-Obsession.

Father has shown me over and over again that HE LOVES ME simply because He is God, and I am His son, and His glory is displayed in me because of His plans and purposes for my life as part of His story and His Kingdom.  But I still choose to believe that I am a worthless failure, one step away from the hammer dropping and being exposed to all the world for what I really am…a selfish fraud who just can’t get it right, isn’t “good enough” and doesn’t have what it takes to be a real man, a loving husband, a good father, and an inspiring leader, and an authentic follower of Christ.  Procrastinator, Lazy, Selfish, Joke, and Verbose, Pitiful, and Fat are all fitting labels that I willingly bestow upon myself over and over again.

God continually reveals His truth to me in a multitude of ways that often times brings me to tears and a heart of worship and joy at tasting a glimpse of His goodness.  Yet I find myself walking back into the prison of believing half-truths and lies that bind me and blind me and rob me of freedom and joy and replace it with fear and anxiety and self pity.

I can look back over the year and see a lot of bad choices and the consequences they had.  But the story doesn’t end there.

In the midst of it all, light has pierced darkness.  Truth has conquered lies.  Forgiveness has replaced condemnation.  Fear has turned to freedom.  Despair has turned to hope.  It has happened in me, and I’ve seen it happen in others.  All of it has shown me that in the midst of a fallen world, God can still say, “I AM.”  He has not changed.  He has proven Himself to be true to all the good I have known Him to be and been told He is.  He has also proven that He is mystery and I have not scratched the surface of discovering all that He is and at times feel that I don’t even know Him and that He can’t be known.  Yet He continues to reveal Himself to me in His perfect timing in His perfect ways just to the degree He knows I need it.  And usually, it happens in very unexpected ways.

I have seen God in the face of poverty and suffering and conflict.  He has shown His Himself to me in the deepest darkest places of my heart.  Those are the 2 ways that best summarize this past year. God is LOVE even in the face of extreme poverty and suffering and conflict in rural Uganda.  And God is LOVE in the face of my own failures and choices to live in the flesh and self-pity.

The Gospel is more than a threatening message that if you don’t repent of your sins you’ll spend eternity in hell.  In fact, that is no gospel at all  This year, I can look back and say that I am experiencing the Gospel in new ways, even in the face of my own failures and sin.  Being a missionary has little to do with it.  Living in a foreign country is in many ways, irrelevant.  The Good News is, God is bigger than all my sin and the sins of the entire world.  He’s bigger than I will ever understand, but he’s also as close as a brother.  A best friend.  A mother. A father. He’s all that and more.  Jesus is all I ever wanted, and all I ever needed, and He’s holding his nail pierced hand out to me, whispering the truth that he has washed away all my junk and it’s gone.  He’s not holding anything against me, so I can let go of it myself.  He just wants me to trust Him.  To walk with Him each step of the way.  To listen to His Spirit.  To believe His truth.  He has jobs for me to do, but they’re not a burden because He’s going to be the one giving me the strength and wisdom to do them…if I let Him.  All this can happen now…not someday.  Eternity is hard to understand.  Experiencing Jesus’ love for me right now isn’t.

That’s good news, and I don’t need the threat of a hell that He never held over anyone’s head to believe and accept it.  He’s calling me AWAY from hell, UNTO himself.  He’s RESTORING me to be what He designed me to be.

He’s doing it in me, and He’s doing it to others.  In Uganda.  In America.  Everywhere.

So may this one year anniversary be a reminder that Jesus is right here with me.  Removing labels, healing pain, and leading me to the freedom that comes from Father.  And it’s available to orphans in Africa…and almost middle-aged men from America.

It is hard to believe that Rachael will be 2 months old in about a week and a half!  She’s growing so fast, not to mention the other kids.  So much has happened since she was born and I find it hard to really take the time to just reflect and process.  When I do get the opportunity to blog (rare as it is) I enjoy that necessary pause.

Rachael says hi...and pptttthhhhbbbtttt!!!

Here’s a bit of an update on life:

After spending almost a month at the Kasana Children’s Center to deliver Rachael, we came back to camp with my in-laws and their stay was truly like a dream.  It went by so fast it’s almost like it didn’t happen!  It was great to see them and great for them to see our family, but way too short.  Still we’re grateful for that chance to be together with family for the first time since last October when my dad and sister came out (yes, this is Dave writing).  We are so blessed by their love, support, and generosity.  I hope my kids and grandkids can say the same of me down the road.

Once they left, we had 2 young ladies come to join us at the camp.  One is Hailey Thompson, and she’s actually with us till mid-July.  The other was a young lady from the UK named Lydia who had spent a few months teaching at Kasana and spent the month of May with us at camp.  They have been such a blessing just filling and serving wherever needed from helping prepare and serve food to retreat guests, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning dishes, latrines, shower, children…you name it.  They’ve helped homeschool and even do some computer work for us.  These short term staff can really give us a shot in the arm.  We just pray for God’s leading in how to love them and help them embrace all that God has for them in their experience.

Even today, Cristen Wall is coming out from Colorado to join us for a year.  She had taught/homeschooled our kids while we were in the Institute, then went back to the US.  She’s coming to the camp to be an Administrative Assistant and help out wherever.  Our kids adore her and I am so grateful to have someone to finally take over the bulk of the daily accounting responsibilities for the camp!

Kanyike Medie, our 1 full time NHU staff person here at the camp has returned to us as well after being at the Institute at Kasana for the past 5 months.  It’s awesome to see how God used that time to deepen his spiritual maturity as he did in us.  He comes back to a slightly new position as I am making him an Operations Manager.  He’ll still focusing on managing and developing our income generating Enterprise businesses, but will also oversee the community relations and help me with staff management.  We now have close to 20 workers here at camp (we call them “wage-earners” as they are not full time NHU staff), and I am so grateful to have Medie back to help us manage the staff and daily issues.  I will never be Ugandan and Medie is very capable of managing operations, w/o my poor Luganda speaking to get in the way!

As our staff continues to grow, so do the unique challenges of managing many people cross-culturally.  I am so jealous of my many friends who went to college and earned a degree in cross-cultural ministry!  But through the challenges of managing our staff and this large property, we have many many opportunities to reflect and reveal the glory of God and live the Gospel.  I have enjoyed getting to know some of our staff more personally and we are now preparing to start a bi-weekly meeting with them all, in which we will begin a basic Bible study and share about Christ with them.  Many of them are “Christians” but that is a very loose term and it is likely that most of them do not really know Christ and mix their local animistic religion with their Christianity.  Please pray for continued relationship building that goes beyond daily routines and responsibilities with our staff.  We want them to see that their life has a purpose in God that few truly embrace and understand, though God’s arms are wide open seeking to restore all unto himself.

We are so excited and grateful for a brand new Meeting/Dining Hall Pavilion and cistern that we are buiding thanks to some memorial gifts and donations towards our Matching Fund project from Camp Forest Springs in WI, and Camp Barakel in MI.  Now when it rains either water or strong sunshine, our campers and guests have somewhere to go for shelter.  The cistern will be connected to the runoff from the roof of the Meeting Hall, as well as to a pump in our nearby stream so that we will significantly boost our water supply and hopefully never run out again!  Water is life, and we praise the source of Living Water for providing it!

Yes, we’re now in our new house and LOVING it!  God continues to bless us with the funds to keep working on finishing the house and also provided the funds for a basic solar system and some much needed furniture.  Funny as it sounds, I get so excited to be able to plug in my Mac ANY TIME I WANT to charge it!  Amazing!  I have really enjoyed learning about solar power and we are excited to expand our system to include a solar freezer, possibly hot water, and maybe even add a wind turbine some day as funds are available.  A friend from one of our supporting churches (Andrea’s home church) has generously donated some significant funds to purchase furniture and just 2 days ago, I brought home a custom made dining room table and chairs along with 2 wardrobes (we don’t have closets), a computer desk, and resin table for the veranda.  You have no idea how awesome it is to have a nice big table that doesn’t feel like it is going to collapse when one of the kids is coloring and erasing doing school at one end while I’m trying to do my work at the other!  PTL!  We praise God for his ongoing provision and though we still have a ways to go to finish the house and get some more furniture, we are counting our blessings as we look back at how far we’ve come and what he has provided.  Our co-worker, Nathan Jackson, is doing most all of the finish work from plumbing to electric/solar to building our cabinets and countertops to grading the yard outside.  We are so grateful not just for their friendship and place on the team, but Nathan truly is a “Jack of all trades”, and MASTER of all as well!  We look forward to getting the rest of our furniture, finishing cabinets and counters, installing the loft, expanding solar, landscaping, painting, installing a proper ceiling, building our banda (workshop/garage and guest room), and much more.  THANK YOU to all of you who continue to support us and are making all of this possible!  We appreciate you more than you know!

While there is so much more I could write about and share with you, let me wrap up this post with a small glimpse into what God has been teaching us lately.  Really, it’s nothing new and is more about going deeper in some bigger picture themes that God has been teaching us for some time.  At the end of the day, I continue to come back to the truth that this Christian life, being a follower of Jesus has everything to do with choices.  Everyday, I have to choose wether to deny myself, pick up my cross and follow Jesus, or just carry really big heavy pieces of wood on my back using my own strength…if you follow.  It doesn’t just happen.  I have to choose it, and God allows me to make choices…regardless of your doctrinal position of election, pre-destination, and the sovereignty of God!  =)  It’s about Practicing His Presence every moment of every day and living in the Spirit, which cannot happen when I am looking at life through the lens of self and my fallen worldview.  Jesus is interested in RESTORING all unto Himself for His glory.  Everything that is broken, and weak, and fallen, and apart from His will.  That’s what we’re alive for, never mind what we’re in Uganda for.  This is not just pie in the sky religion, it permeates daily life.  All of it. It affects my beliefs, which affect my choices and behavior.  It affects how I treat my wife and kids, how I spend my time, how I love my neighbor, the entertainment I choose to enjoy…everything.  If it’s all about me and the pursuit of my own personal happiness and done out of my own strength and wisdom, it all falls apart quickly and unfortunately, I’ve gone down that road too many times, even recently.  However, if it is all about God first, about being a part of His plan to RESTORE everything unto Himself, if it’s about loving God and loving people, if it’s about living my life UNTO HIS GLORY, then everything changes.  I’m reminded constantly that it is dangerous to live the Christian life from the view that it’s all about eternity.  We are to set our minds on things above and what is eternal, that is, what will last.  What will last is loving God and loving people and bringing Him glory NOW!  I can’t think, “It will all get better someday.  Maybe the rapture will happen today and we’ll be out of here.”  That would be missing the point.  Regardless of what my flesh thinks of the challenges and stresses I face everyday (both internal and external), God wants to restore all of creation through you and me NOW…not someday.  That’s why I’m here.  It’s why you’re here.  We choose whether to walk that path or not everyday, minute by minute in the small details and the big challenging things as well.  It’s interesting.  Every day I see grinding poverty and sickness and a fallen world around me.  Children are orphaned from abandonment or sickness (much of which is the result of poor, selfish choices in dealing sexual temptation…HIV), women are beaten needlessly, men lie, cheat, and steal to make money that is often squandered on food, sex, alcohol, or possessions, women close off their hearts and refuse to let anyone in to their painful existence. Those are the glaring big picture problems.  But what path am I walking?  Maybe I’m not sleeping around and beating my wife and drinking too much.  But I have my own temptations and weaknesses that I often give in to.  Sometimes it’s working too hard.  Sometimes it’s neglecting to spend time with my kids when I’m tired.  Sometimes it’s coveting some new toy or piece of technology. Sometimes it’s getting frustrated with someone and not dealing with the conflict properly and letting it fester and remain unresolved.  Sometimes it’s a lack of desire to answer the door when someone knocks cause I know they just want something from me and I don’t want to give it.  Sometimes it’s being impatient with my wife and having to be “right” and defend myself when I feel she’s wronged me.  Sometimes it’s wasting time on the computer…even allowing myself to lose control of what my eyes look at in the lust of the flesh.    That’s the truth. My poor choices and weakness and temptations are often far more subtle than the “big ticket sins,” which I am convinced is even more dangerous.  Half truths are more dangerous than flat out obvious lies.  What about you?  What path are you on?  What choices are you making every day?  The big ones and the small ones? Are you on the path of restoration or of personal gain and doing whatever it takes to appease your flesh?  Is your fallen culture and worldview and their influence advising your decisions, or is the Holy Spirit, Scripture, other loving Christ-followers?

There have many days that I want to throw in the towel and just “go home.”  But go home to what?  The same old flesh, the same old issues, just in a different place, which is more comfortable.  That’s even more dangerous.  Those thoughts are a cop-out.  It shows weakness.  Running away from the life God has called me to is the choice of a woos.  A pansy.  You get the point.  That’s not choosing the path of restoration and living UNTO God’s glory.

So thanks for reading all of this…if you have.  We’d love for you to write and share about what’s going on in your life too.  Relationship from a distance is tough, but not impossible.

Recent impromptu family shot

In summary…

May we all choose the path of restoration unto God’s glory…not our own.  May we choose to practice His presence in our lives and live by the Spirit each moment NOW…not someday.  And may you experience the joy being in relationship with the Father.

Rachael Alexa

Meet Rachael Alexa Bouffard!  Born April 13th, 2011 at 8:45pm (1:45pm EST) at 7 lbs, 1 oz.  She is now the second of our 4 children to be born on her due date (Emileigh was too), which only happens in about 3% of births I am told?!  She was born at Kiwoko Hospital in the village next to New Hope’s Kasana Children’s Center.  The birth went well and Rachael is simply beautiful.  Mom had some stitches, but is doing fine.  Daddy was disappointed that he didn’t get to “catch” her, but it was quite a different experience having our first hospital birth…in Uganda!  Definitely a different experience than home births in America!  We are amazed at how strong and alert Rachael is.  She has a very strong neck and when awake has very inquisitive eyes.  The kids, are of course, loving the baby, though I’m not sure Micah really even notices her yet, unless she’s in his lap and he’s kissing her!

Four times I’ve been blessed to father a child.  Each time is is an oxymoron: unique yet the same.  The pregnancy, birth, and child itself are always somehow different and unique, yet I also experience very similar emotions and thoughts each time as well.  Each time, I am awestruck by raw creation laying in my arms and the entire process of conception, pregnancy, and birth.  Truly it is hard for me to fathom anything more beautiful and stirring to the soul.  There’s a mysterious blend of divinity and humanness that creates a deep sense of connection to life, reality, and God.  As the newborn baby in all her glory is placed on her mother’s breast for the first time, the entire experience, it is as if, for a fleeting moment, you are transplanted back to the beginning of time…to the very garden of Eden…and witnessing something so sacred and holy that if you blink your eyes, you can be quite sure you can see Jesus sitting there on the bed with his arms wrapped around mother and baby with the deepest most sincere smile and light of joy in his eyes.  As he lifts his head and looks up at me, the father and husband, standing there helplessly in awe, he springs to his feet and engulfs me in the most satisfying embrace that could ever be imagined.  There is no doubt in my mind that the glory of God is being reflected and revealed as tangibly and with as much permeable reality in those moments as you could ever expect to experience this side of heaven.  It is as it should be.  Life, joy, relief, beauty, peace, connection, hope, satisfaction, and love.  And yes, all of that comes in the midst of the anxiety, pain, fear, and helplessness that is part of the experience in this fallen world.  Even some of those who have experienced death of mother, baby, or even both in pregnancy and childbirth can still experience the glory of God when faith and trust rest in the person of God rather than the hands of doctors and midwives, or desire for good health and pain free living.  It is easier said than done, but I am reminded that when we embrace God and his purpose, plan, and glory in life, no matter the circumstances, the same life, joy, relief, beauty, peace, connection, hope, satisfaction, and love will characterize our experiences, even in the face of profound pain, suffering, and disappointment.

Daddy and his baby girl

I have many friends who have been unable to conceive.  Some of them have children now, through the beautiful opportunity of adoption, and even through other high tech, state-of-the-art medical fertility procedures.  My heart goes out to them, not out of pity or sympathy, but for the disappointment they have experienced in not being able to have biological children of their own.  I thought about this several times during the birth of Rachael.  I’ve come to believe that one can only truly deal with such disappointments and pain and find peace and comfort when there is a surrender to the plans and purposes of God, which are by nature, perfect.  Our desires and plans and dreams often intertwine with God’s, and we are grateful for those times.  But that is not always the case.  May each one of my friends who may be reading this and have felt the deep pain and disappointment of not being able to conceive, which I will never understand, find peace in the truth that it is not being able to have children that brings the greatest joy in life.  It is knowing The Father as one of His children that does.

Mama and her baby

So we give praise to God for this beautiful gift, made in his image to reflect and reveal his glory!  Through the sleepless nights, anxiety when a spit up causes a few scary moments of choking, leaking diapers, and gas motivated “smiles,”  May her name; Rachael (meaning “ewe”, a symbol of gentleness and innocence, and beautiful and well-favoured as was described of Rachel in Genesis) and Alexa (meaning “helper” or “defender”) be indicative of her life so that she may reflect and reveal the character of God and his beauty, gentleness, and innocence as she helps defend his truth as a woman of God!

Quite alert, about 20 minutes after birth

Robinah...the midwife that delivered Rachael

Happy kids!

Proud parents!

Wide eyes and alert!

Hoping she learns to do this during the night instead of the day!

Snugglin

• We traveled and finally got a mini-vacation in…now a while ago.
• We had a team from North Dakota come to the camp.  I can still say every North Dakotan I know is way cool.
• Wes the baby vervet monkey returned and is now tormenting us daily and trying to avoid being killed by Andrea.  Stereotypes of pet monkeys are true.  All 3 of them: 1) They are thieves. 2) They like to steal things. 3) They like to take things that don’t belong to them.  What we didn’t know about monkeys before having one: 1) They like to sleep with your chickens at night and force the hens to let them sleep under their wings…literally 2) They like to attack your chickens though chickens don’t like to wrestle and “play.” 3) They are cute, but they have such bad manners you wonder if “serpent” could be translated “baby vervet monkey” in Genesis 3. 4) They look like rats when you give them flea baths.
• God provided more money to continue building our house through some amazing supporters.  We now have a basic solar system, a water tower to provide running water, lights, a full cistern, and AMAZING view! We should move in the end of April after the baby comes, though there’s still a lot of work to do and we’re trusting God for the money to finish.
• The Internet got worse, not better.
• Our dog died. Not fun when it’s your fault.
• We adopted the camp dog to live with us, cause he bit someone and he wore the cone of shame after being fixed.  Long story.
• We bought 3 cows for camp, one died the moment it stepped off the truck.
• We had neighbors threaten to kill some of our security guards.  I was able to deal with one of them and we’re now “somehow” friends.
• Some serious growth and change of worldview has taken place.  Jesus has become less distant, and I’ve been seeking, listening, and following the Spirit more closely.
• My perspective on our neighbors is shifting and my love is growing for them, even those who are still disturbing us and would consider us enemies.
• My faith has grown, as well as my trust in The Father.
• Relationships are growing.
• My excitement for community development is growing.
• My fears are diminishing.
• My calling is becoming more clear.
• Loving your “enemy” has a much deeper meaning than it ever did before.
• I feel more distant from American culture, and don’t miss much of it.
• My heart has been breaking for America, just as much as Uganda, but probably not in the way you might think.
• I’ve learned a bit more Luganda.
• Emileigh had a birthday…now 6.
• Micah had a birthday…now 4.
• Andrea had a birthday…now 21…haha
• I’ve watched my children change before my eyes, physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually.
• I’ve often found find my 8 year old reading her Bible…without being asked to…and had it bring me to tears of joy.
• I’ve turned into an “ear eating hippopotamus” who has removed Micah’s ears approximately 321 times.
• I’ve watched Emileigh go out to the latrine in the dark…alone.
• Emileigh has learned to read!
• I have almost daily chosen NOT to “spare the rod”…of discipline!  My kids are perfect!  =)
• Andrea and I had one candlelight dinner at home to ourselves w/o kids, courtesy of the Sparks!
• I’ve hired 10 new staff.
• I visited the home of Mama Rose, who washes our clothes and met her husband.
• Syd & Andrea Sparks went back to the US for a 9 month furlough.
• The Jacksons are now living and working with us at the camp.
• I’ve made a good friend with one of our neighbors who was fighting us seriously in the beginning.
• I’ve become a solar light salesman.
• We’ve had rain.  Lots of rain.  Water is good.  Lightning that kills 6 year old neighbors is bad.
• I’ve read 6 books: The Hole in Our Gospel, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor or Yourself, Running Scared, Crazy Love, The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring (not the first time for the last 2).
• Books I’m currently reading: The Two Towers, Colossians Remixed, Desiring God.
• We had an earthquake.  No harm done other than creating some fear and serious sympathy, heartbreak, compassion, and hope for Japan.
• Failed to decide on a name for the active little girl growing in my wife’s womb that seems to want to come out badly…but not as much as her mother wants her to come out.
• We started building a meeting/dining hall pavilion for camp.

• We started installing a water system to supply water to the main site at camp from our stream.
• I killed a small snake on the back porch.
• I’ve killed 4,356,734 ants…in the house.
• I’ve learned a lot about politics in Africa.
• I’ve been through a Presidential election in Uganda.
• I’ve learned a lot about war and violence in Africa.
• I’ve sat and talked with dozens of people who’ve shared their stories of incredible pain and loss and trauma…but have a smile on their face…a hope for a better life…and an absence of complaining.
• I’ve counted my blessings and the sum is immeasurable.

There is more…so much more…but that will suffice for now.  Thanks for reading, thanks for being patient between posts!

Celebrating New Year’s for us will never be the same.  You see, we arrived in Uganda on December 31, 2009 at around 10:30pm.  Our first full day in Uganda was January 1, 2010.  So today is our one year anniversary in Uganda!  That makes it easy to answer the question, “How long have you been in Uganda?”  So not only are we celebrating a New Year, but also our first year here.

Looking back, there is soooo much we could say about this first year.  It has been full of joys, challenges, disappointments, surprises, blessings, trials, failures, successes, learning, and more.  The circumstances we find ourselves in test our faith daily.  There are times recently I have given into frustration, anger, confusion, heartbreak, temptation, doubt, fatigue, etc.  Still, I know that there is a bigger picture to my life and God is always forgiving of my failures and sin, whether poor choices in behavior, lack of faith, tendency to see the negative, bad attitude, sinful thoughts or actions…you name it.  Through it all, He is still advancing His Kingdom through us, unto His glory.  He’s still redeeming my selfish heart and the world around me.  That’s truth.  Choosing to believe it keeps you going and gives you hope.  It’s not about us.  It’s about Him.  He uses imperfect people to do His work.  He finds a way to bring us back to reality and remind us of His power and love and purpose.

Today it came through some Scripture and a book I’m reading called, When Helping Hurts: How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself. Our view of life and Scripture and God and the point of it all has definitely changed and been enlarged over the past year.  I see missions so differently now.  I see why we are in Uganda differently now. I see God so differently now.  I see “the poor” so differently now.  I see relationships differently now.  I see poverty differently now.  I see “wealth” differently now.  I see peace differently now.  I see LIFE so differently now.  I am thankful for all of that.

I am learning that God wants to alleviate poverty in this world and is constantly redeeming it through Christ and His Holy Spirit…and through us!  He has shown me that poverty is not just material, economic, or physical as we tend to think of it in the US.  We can also have relational, emotional, social, and especially spiritual poverty.  In fact, I have learned that poverty has much more to do with our beliefs and relationships than it does our economic condition. Indeed, I have experienced spiritual poverty in my life, and the last few weeks are certainly no exception.  Poverty comes from broken relationships, broken culture, broken systems and Institutions, broken values and beliefs, broken societies, all of which are not centered on God’s truth in various ways.  It’s a result of the fall plain and simple.  Is that kind of poverty present in MY life???  You betcha!!!  I have met countless people who “have” a fraction of the material wealth that I have.   Yet so many of them also have a joy and a confidence in life that I struggle to find.  What is the difference?  I often have a spiritual poverty that some of the poorest of the poor don’t have!  They know their creator and they rest in His love and presence in their lives, even if they live in a one room mud hut with a thatched roof and dirt floor and only make about $1.50/day and struggle to find clean water to drink and food to eat and provide for their families each day.  How many evangelical Christians in America make at least $90/day but still struggle with serious relational, emotional and spiritual issues in our lives?  MANY!!!  To be honest, most people I know in America struggle with serious issues of poverty in their lives, even though they have a “decent” house to live in, tap water, electricity, food in the fridge, more clothes and shoes than they need, the ability to drop $30 on a meal for 2 at a nice restaurant, the extra cash to go to a movie now and then, 1-2 pets, and 1-2 cars in the driveway or garage.  Yet they struggle with a poverty of being.  Being in right relationship with God, others, themselves, and even creation.  Poverty is far more than just a lack of material possessions and money.

But what gives me hope in the midst of these issues is that God is constantly redeeming it all.  Scripture talks over and over again that the reason Christ came to earth was not just to “save souls.”  Certainly that’s a major part of it.  But he came to “reconcile to himself ALL (emphasis added) things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (see Col. 1:15-20).  Christ came to reconcile EVERYTHING!  Not just save souls so that we’ll go to heaven someday and leave this broken world behind.  He is even redeeming this world NOW!  And he wants you and me to be a part of it!  That means LIVING out the WHOLE GOSPEL in deeds, not just words.  It’s more than just believing a certain set of theological truths (albeit important truths).  God wants to reconcile everything to himself and his primary way of doing that is through the church…Christians…believers…born agains…his very body…his hands and feet.  That means restoring ALL relationships into right relationship with God.  Culture, society, values, beliefs, laws, Institutions, systems of all kinds come back to God.  Even creation and the natural world!  Either they are centered on God or not.  God wants to see them all become centered on HIS GLORY!  When that happens, albeit slowly, the entire earth and all that is in it (including you and me and everyone else in the world) are restored to right relationship of God.  The physical and spiritual.  The seen and unseen.  Everything can be made right with Christ.  But it starts with you and me making some choices in what we believe and what we will DO in light of those beliefs.  Our actions.  Faith and deeds.  Read the book of James.

This New Year, I want to get outside of myself and be part of God’s plan to redeem and reconcile ALL things UNTO HIMSELF, FOR HIS GLORY!  I want to be a part of ALL forms of poverty being eradicated!  Don’t think it’s impossible?  You’re right.  As long as YOU believe it’s not possible and choose to do nothing with God’s truth, then EVERYTHING has not been reconciled to God.  We know that many will not choose to believe and live in God’s truth.  But the choice is yours.  Poverty can be alleviated, and that doesn’t mean the poor get more “stuff.”

Maybe you want to rethink your “New Year’s Resolutions.”  What does God have to say about it.  There’s nothing wrong with eating healthier, laughing more, being more disciplined to do good things, give a little more of a tithe.  Those are good things.  But I encourage you to think more seriously about God’s bigger picture for your life.  What is really most important.  What does his Word say?  And what will you do in response.

On this one year anniversary of the Bouffards in Uganda at the beginning of a New Year, I want 2011 to be marked by some real change in my lifestyle and heart, not just my knowledge.  I want to live out what God has taught me in a greater way.  I want to die to self and love others like Jesus.  I want to experience his presence and see his glory.  I want to live in TRUTH and not LIES.  I want to stand firm in the face of temptations.  I want to have my heart broken for the broken hearted.  I want to restore all that is broken in me and in others and the world.  There are so many hurting people around me everyday (all I have to do is look in the mirror).  Hurting emotionally, physically, economically, spiritually.  God wants me to be a part of setting them free and bringing them hope in HIM.

May 2011 see the Kingdom of God come to earth through in you and me in a greater way.  There’s nothing more important than that.

We love and miss you all!

Actually, New Hope Uganda received 2 matching gifts.  The other one is to go towards improving the standard of living for our Ugandan staff.  You can read more about that in the brochure as well.

Opportunities like this don’t happen every day.  They do, however, confirm that God is leading and guiding Musana Camps and wants to see this new ministry continue to grow.  Please prayerfully consider if you would like to give towards one or more of the projects listed.  Each of them are important and will help us significantly.

One of the things I’m learning is that what we are doing is not about the programs, it’s about the people.  These development projects will profoundly enhance our ability to share the WHOLE Gospel of Christ with the people who come to the camp.  God’s heart is for the poor, the orphan, the widow, the alien.  It is our heart too.  This ministry is serving God by serving these people.  They are not just nameless millions that you see in the news.  They are real people who live in places where they do not have good access to the basic needs of life.  Even the spiritual teaching they receive in Uganda is often full of mixed beliefs that are blurred by culture and a lack of knowledge of Scripture.  We want to bring the good news of Christ to these people not just through our programs, but through daily relationships, and even community development projects like simply helping provide clean water for the to drink that is easily accessible, build a clinic and provide health care and health education, improving roads and more.

You can be a part of all that.  Please consider it.  Not for the Bouffards…for these people…even for God.

Here’s an opportunity to make a difference!

NHU Matching Donation Brochure

We got a call from the North American Director of New Hope Uganda and he shared some incredible news with us and the other staff.  The kind of news where you respond by shouting, “What?????!!!!!!,” and then demand he repeats himself again to be sure you heard him right.

The camp had been given an anonymous donation for $100,000…and it is matching.  Yes, you read that right.  Now what makes this incredible gift even more special was that it was Syd’s birthday.  That’s Syd Sparks, the other muzungu (white person) we serve with here at the camp.  For his Thanksgiving birthday, he literally joked that his birthday wish was that the camp would get $100k.  He got his wish…straight up.  Incredible.

So not only did we spend Thanksgiving in Uganda…making it different and memorable…this matching donation truly reminded us that we have so much to be thankful for…and where our thanks is to be directed.  That gift came straight from God.  The donor says so himself…whoever he is.

It was good timing too.  The truth is, life has been tough lately.  Tougher than we really share in a blog or a newsletter.  This donation helped to put things in perspective and remind us that God truly is in control…regardless of what we think about life and the challenges we face.  Tough is a relative term.  It was a tough day…Thanksgiving…for several reasons…but it was also an amazing day.  Isn’t that a picture of life?  Tough…but amazing.

This Thanksgiving, we were very aware of the amazing part.  Glory to God.

So pray for us now.  I am very busy working on a fundraising piece to share with New Hope Supporters about this matching donation.  We want to use this tremendous opportunity wisely.  It is going to make a HUGE difference in the development of the camp.  Just incredible.

But we need help.  I’m not gonna shy away from this question either: Will you consider making a donation towards this matching gift?  Will you help us see this $100k turn into $200k???  It’s all for camp development, and being that we’re still very much in the infant stages of camp development…this donation is going to go a LONG way for us.  Please prayerfully consider helping us with that.  Information will be coming out soon about the projects we hope to do with these funds as they come in and how you can give towards them.  Matching donations are amazing.  Thanks for considering partnering with us on that.

This gift also reminded us that God can provide the funds we need to finish our house just as easily as he provided this gift for the camp!  We still need about another $25k to finish building our home and furnish it, get solar installed, etc.  We ask you to give towards that as well.  Thanks for considering us.

So this donation is quite a gift.  However, it pales in comparison to the gift sent from the Father that we celebrate on December 25th.  Nothing can compare to that gift.  We only hope and pray that this matching gift will simply help us to share about the gift of Jesus’ birth with as many people as possible.

Emmanuel.  God with us.  Now that’s a gift!

Merry Christmas

• It’s 7:30am and I really wanted to sleep in till 8am.  Did Andrea really just say there are 5 different people outside our door waiting to talk to me?
• It’s 7:31am…they can wait a few more minutes…
• Ok Lord…I woke up thinking about a massive To Do list that is kickin my butt.  Help me to not miss going through my day for you in light of it all.
• It’s 7:45am…why am I so tired?
• Micah…you had better come over here and give me a good morning kiss!
• There really are 5 people waiting at my door…
• Is it possible to sneak past these people to the latrine so I can have a few minutes to myself to think and pray and commit my day to the Lord w/o being seen or considered rude?
• You need how much money for gutters for the roof?
• Yes, we’ll charge your cell phone.  Have we ever said no?
• Why is the monkey inside the house again?
• If that dog licks my leg one more time I’m tying a large stone to her neck and taking her for a swim…
• I’m hungry…wonder if Andrea made fresh granola?
• Ok Lord, I can tell already it’s going to be a long day.  Keep me focused on you!
• Can I go back to bed and get away with it?
• 8am…I guess I’m up and already dealt with several things.  Guess I won’t go back to bed!

But this post is not about computer/internet woes, which are not a big deal in light of eternity.  Rather, let me just say that I am writing this sitting in my room at the Entebbe Airport Guest House listening to my father snore.  It will be the last time I hear that “sweet” sound for who knows how long, and needless to say, it’s not bothering me at all.  My father and sister have been here for the past 2 weeks, and in 6 hours, I will take them to the airport to return to the States.

At New Hope Uganda, we stress the importance and role of family in God’s plan for mankind pretty heavily.  Working with fatherless children, family is a pretty big deal.  I was reminded today just how special family really is.

You see, I got to take my father and my sister to Kasana Children’s Center to see the place and meet our extended “family” in Uganda.  While there, we were able to see several people we had not seen in almost 3 months, which was great.  But I was not prepared for what happened next.  I took my father and sister to Samuel Family, the family group of fatherless children that we were attached to during our 7 months at Kasana.  Words can’t describe the feelings Andrea and I and the kids experienced when we saw everyone in Samuel Family.  They were so excited to see and it was almost surprising.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder?!  It was such a joy to greet and hug those kids and Uncle George and Auntie Esther and Uncle Seggie again.  I was taken back by how much they enjoyed seeing us.  I was not prepared for what happened when I introduced Kenny Kigonyogo to my father.  Kenny told my dad that I was like a father to him.  I stood there with my own father, hugging a young man who no longer has one, and it was one of those moments I wish I could grab onto and stuff in a bottle and just pull out and live all over again whenever I need a little encouragement.

Family is special.  Family does not require blood relatives.  Though that is extra special.  I truly felt like I came home today when we went to Samuel Family.  And nothing can replace sharing that with my own father and sister.  They didn’t know all of what I was experiencing but is was special.

God was there…being glorified.  Smiling at the love that we all shared with one another.  Family is special.  Family is God’s design for relationships.  Even for “orphans” like Kenny Kigonyogo.  We are family.  God is our Father.  That is what brings it all together.  The Heavenly Father and his love for his children.

So it is sad that Dad and Kathy are leaving in a few hours, but I am so grateful to have had them here to experience a bit of our lives in Uganda.

We are so grateful that our kids got to spend each day with them.  In Uganda, the sister of the father of a family is called the “Auntie,” or in Luganda, the Senga.  She often plays a vital role in the lives of the children of her brother…sometimes even more than the mother!  It is such a joy to watch my children’s deep love for my sister, who has no children of her own.  Actually, my kids are her kids, and that’s family.  It’s priceless.

Tomorrow, I will shed some tears because I know my father will get choked up when he says goodbye and gives me that bear hug unlike any other hug in the world.  I’ve experienced it countless times.  My dad rarely cried that I can remember, but when he does, I’m done.  The floodgates open and my eyes could fill a bucket.  I can’t wait to get that hug and shed those tears tomorrow even though I wish they didn’t have to leave.  Cause that’s family.  That’s the love of a father.  I am blessed.