Thanks for all of your messages, asking what has happened to us. Forgive us for not covering all of our bases in our communication with you all. We have found it to be easiest to give updates on our Facebook page, which we have primarily done these past several months. So, for all of you non-Facebookers, that has left you out of the loop. We are truly sorry about that. We value your prayer support, and are grateful for the interest that you have shown in what is going on here. For those of you who are on Facebook and are not currently connected with us that way, but would like to be, just request Nate or me as a friend and we will link you to our Facebook page where we post updates. We also periodically post on our blog (www.thejorefamily.wordpress.com).
On our blog, there is information on the police case that was brought against Nate back in December. In May, we received word that the case was dropped! We are so grateful to be finished with that season of wondering and waiting what was going to come of it. God's hand of protection on us through it was so evident. We are currently still waiting to hear back from the Immigration Department regarding the status of Nate's work permit. Back in December, we found out that the renewal of his work permit had been rejected and we were given 30 days to leave the country. He was told that he had one chance to appeal that rejection, which he did (in the form of a letter). And we are still waiting on the answer to his appeal. We're not quite sure why it is taking so long. Each time Nate has traveled to Kampala to check on it or has called in to the office, he has been told that no progress has been made on it and to check back later. So, we continue to wait. Our plans to build our home in the village are still on hold as our future here is still uncertain.
Life goes on and is quite "normal" for us, despite the fact that we could receive word any day that would determine whether or not we'd pack our bags and head back to the U.S. or dive into our plans to build our home in the village. I think we have gotten used to that tension and that feeling of being in limbo. God's peace that passes understanding and the confidence He has given us in His sovereignty has sustained us.
Nate has been loving teaching a new 3rd year Ambassador Institute course on Romans. He is teaching the core group of AI leaders/teachers and they are eating it up along with him. Studying Romans and figuring out how to teach it well has definitely been stretching for Nate, but it has been a challenge which he has eagerly taken on.
We continue to move in the direction of Nate handing over his leader/director position of the Ambassador Institute program here by the time we head back to the States on furlough next May. We are excited to watch it become more and more propelled by the vision and energy of the local leaders and teachers, as it becomes their own and not simply a program which was introduced to them.
Currently we have 6 interns from the States working alongside us here. They are each pretty amazing. They are involved in a variety of ministries in the community... working with street kids, leading a lunchtime Bible program for elementary kids, one-on-one mentoring, serving disabled kids, helping out at an orphanage, teaching Bible studies at a pregnancy center and at a nearby high school, teaching a music class, leading a Sunday school program, and more that I'm sure I don't even know about. Oh, of course, and ministering to our family hugely by helping out with teaching our kids and babysitting so Nate and I can have a weekly date night. We feel incredibly blessed and spoiled by them. We'll miss them when they all take off within the next month.
Our kids seem to all be growing at a rapid rate recently. Elijah, our oldest, is turning 10 on Wednesday. It hardly seems possible that he could be that old. He has shot up in height this past year and is gearing up to pass me before too long. He has proven to be just as intense of a soccer lover as Nate as they've watched the World Cup games together this past month. One of the things we love best about him is his inability to re-tell a funny story or joke without erupting in giggles. Judah is 8 and continues to be our dreamer and our lover of beauty and nature. He has started to try to play the piano by ear, which he told me last night he's going to do for his own enjoyment and not for a profession when he grows up. Hannah is 6 and currently thinks it's hilarious to tickle everyone in her proximity. She loves shoes and dressing up and ballet and nail polish, but she also loves to be right in the thick of it with the boys when they race and wrestle. She has taken off in her reading this year and begs to read books to me throughout the day. Jeremiah is 4 and is high-speed and intense in all things, all day long. He got a Nerf gun for his birthday last month, and he sleeps with it and talks about it and shoots people with it all day long as well. When professing his love to me recently he said, 'I love you so much, Mom. I won't ever push you off a cliff." Julia makes everyone laugh. She is a really happy kid and makes everyone else happy too. Her favorite things in life are sitting in a bucket of water outside, dumping water out of buckets, playing in the shower and the bathtub, leaving faucets running, flushing the toilet, and washing her babies. She also likes to talk about rats and dead animals, and she takes on a very grown-up tone when she begins to share her information about them.
As always, thanks for remembering us and praying for us and loving us. We feel so grateful to have such a strong support system of friends and family, as well as those of you we've never met. May God increase in each of you a hunger for His glory to be known and seen in your own lives and in all the nations.
Rhoda (for Nate and family too)
