Sperlings in Africa

Composting

2011-12-05T00:09:00.001-08:00

I teach composting as the key way that ordinary farmers can have the best fertilizer without spending any cash (which they may have in short supply).

The process of composting takes dead and decaying things and turns them into food for the future growth of the plants in our garden.

This is the same spiritually. I was thrilled to see a simply profound post on blog I normally follow. I have been going through one of those times when past failures and sins had been bothering me -- if for no other reason than I wish I hadn't got caught in them. But of course that is just regret and it won't get me far... God has a better plan; he wants to take our sins and troubles and turn them into stepping stones for a more pure, righteous and joyful life in Him.

Please enjoy this lesson on composting. http://goo.gl/SVV4d

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

An Old Barn

2011-11-11T01:54:00.001-08:00

I was recounting my Grandfather's love for creation to a friend recently and I thought of this "old" poem I write a while ago.

Today's entry is in memory of my Grandpa Willems. He loved Creation and he loved the Pslams. One of his particular interests was photographing old barns on the prairies. My Grandfather's name was R.B. Willems.

                             An old barn
                                      First stanza

I’m creaking,
I groan

I’m teetering,
I lean

I’m fading,
I’m brown

But RB comes to see me,
He comes out from town

What does he see in me?
What does he know?

Does he like the way I lean?
Or does he remember what I’ve been?

Does he enjoy the wind whistling through?
Or does he imagine me, once new?

Perhaps, is it the contrast
Of my faded wood against prairie skies?
It could be the prophetic way I’m leaning
To remind him how time flies by

                                   Second stanza

Well, I haven’t seen RB for a while,
I would like to see him smile,
Or wink at me through his lens,
or mutter some prose from David’s pen.

I heard he was creaking and groaning too,
to leave his body and join the Creator who’ll make him new.

A few others pass by my leaning frame,
I wonder – do they know of my fame?

Do they see my prophetic lean?
Or remember what I’ve been?

Do they know man’s future – man’s past?
Do they know things  made of wood, hay and stubble don’t last?

Do they know they are unlike me?
Once fallen, once dead  - a few more things will be done a few more words said –
not by the wind or a barn like me – not even David will utter these.

The Creator Himself will tell men their lot.

Did they heed the Prophet’s words,
did they hear the Wind speak?
Did they turn from their sins and seek their Creator,
did they hear the Message given so clear?

These flowers and the grass around me – soon they will fade,
Soon I’ll be gone too – I won’t point the way,
But the Words of the Creator forever will stay.

                                                                                    By C.S. Sperling
                                                                                Upon the death of my grandfather Reuben Benjamin Willems

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

An Old Barn

2011-11-10T21:58:00.001-08:00

I was recounting my Grandfather's love for creation to a friend recently and I thought of this "old" poem I write a while ago.

An old barn

First stanza

I’m creaking,

I groan

I’m teetering,

I lean

I’m fading,

I’m brown

But RB comes to see me,

He comes out from town

What does he see in me?

What does he know?

Does he like the way I lean?

Or does he remember what I’ve been?

Does he enjoy the wind whistling through?

Or does he imagine me, once new?

Perhaps, is it the contrast

Of my faded wood against prairie skies?

It could be the prophetic way I’m leaning

To remind him how time flies by

Second stanza

Well, I haven’t seen RB for a while,

I would like to see him smile,

Or wink at me through his lens,

or mutter some prose from David’s pen.

I heard he was creaking and groaning too,

to leave his body and join the Creator who’ll make him new.

A few others pass by my leaning frame,

I wonder – do they know of my fame?

Do they see my prophetic lean?

Or remember what I’ve been?

Do they know man’s future – man’s past?

Do they know things made of wood, hay and stubble don’t last?

Do they know they are unlike me?

Once fallen, once dead - a few more things will be done a few more words said –

not by the wind or a barn like me – not even David will utter these.

The Creator Himself will tell men their lot.

Did they heed the Prophet’s words,

did they hear the Wind speak?

Did they turn from their sins and seek their Creator,

did they hear the Message given so clear?

These flowers and the grass around me – soon they will fade,

Soon I’ll be gone too – I won’t point the way,

But the Words of the Creator forever will stay.

By C.S. Sperling

Upon the death of my grandfather Reuben Benjamin Willems

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Stewardship Farming

2011-10-18T01:40:00.001-07:00

In my teaching lately with Farming God's Way I have been struck with how the idea of stewardship is much closer the Biblical model for business and farming than the mostly capitalist model I was told was biblical in the Christian world view teaching I received when I was younger. In this earlier teaching private ownership was emphasized as the correct way to view our lives and it influenced the treatment of all material goods around us.

In our training material we teach farmers that they need to aim for sustainable profitibility. Profit is not wrong! God is a God of multiplication -- a God of plenty. If there is no profit then there will be no life on earth. But the way in which we earn our living from the land must not rob the land of long term fertility just for gains in the short term -- it must be sustainable year after year; generation upon generation. We must add to our account (the soil) as much if not more than we subtract from the account. Our care for creation is not just a nice modern "green" idea but it is our job and our responsibility. If we do not care for our farmland we will see low yields and losses and hunger as the order of the day!

Of course, the solution is not socialism either, but an understanding that ultimately we own nothing (including our very lives) but are caretakers of all that comes under our influence. We are stewards who will give an account to our Creator.

The question is not whether any of us will be a steward -- the question is: what type of steward will you be?

I was inspired to write this short post when I found this devotional in my inboxthis morning, underlining the shift in my thinking. http://www.icr.org/article/20161/

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Keep on Sowing

2011-09-21T05:09:00.000-07:00

My garden is a akin to a mechanic's car -- it's in rough shape because my time is spent teaching other people how to farm. So, now that I have had a bit of time recently, I have been busy planting a few things -- and harvesting some too. It struck me the other day that we were harvesting or about to harvest some nice things from the garden - some strawberries, cucumbers and in a while some broccoli and cauliflower. Now these crops are all the more wonderful to harvest here because they are not common at all! So the thought occurred to me that it we had the privilege of harvesting some tasty fruits from the garden because we had made time to plant and care for what little we could manage.

This is so true in our work as well. I am often a little wary and even discouraged at peoples responses to Farming God's Way. It's not that people aren't excited about it. More often than not people are VERY excited about it! What is disappointing is that this excitement often does not translate into any practical application of the principles... or at least not from what I can see. I understand a little what Jesus felt when He saw people following Him for healings and miracles but few actually becoming His disciples and walking in His ways.

So as I was harvesting a little bit of produce from my garden I was heartened to remember that in the same way if I keep sowing Farming God's Way there will be a harvest of many beautiful changed lives!

Do you feel discouraged too with your work too? Have you seen changes as you persist in continuing to "sow" and continue to be faithful in the work God has called you to?

The Revolution Continues

2011-08-06T03:39:00.001-07:00

"Don't plough your land; you are destroying your soil", I tell people who come to our kiosk at the Ugandan national agriculture show.

I wait for their surprised look -- sometimes the new idea doesn't register until I start elaborating on the reasons why turning their soil with a plough or even with a hoe will lead to it's demise.

I explain," By inverting your soil with a plough or hoe you break the soil into small particles which will easily be eroded, compacted by the impact of the heavy tropical rains we receive and clog the pore spaces that are supposed to naturally occur in a fertile soil". I move on to the next point but very quickly someone in the small audience looking at our display says" Wait a minute -- back up! You said that ploughing is BAD? What do you mean??" I gladly continue my explanation which includes pointing out the fertile soils in forests and native grasslands that are unturned and have been producing a bountiful diversity of plant life for thousands of years. It gives me an opportunity to explain and contrast mankind's ways with God's ways in nature -- a natural and logical lead to contrast God's ways with ours; I discuss how, without God, we use, abuse and destroy almost anything for selfish gain yet, as stewards of what God has given us to take care of we should be caring for and protecting all that God has given us. He will ask for an accounting for all we have been given at the end of time.

Currently, with Farming God's Way in Uganda, we have a short timespan during which we can introduce these revolutionary and exciting ideas of minimal tillage with the gospel of the Kingdom of God. I have found that when a new crop is introduced with a growing methodology it becomes a huge success with those who decide to grow that crop. In a similar way I believe we have the same opportunity to introduce this new (actually ancient) way of farming with a methodology which incorporates the idea of trying to imitate what God does in nature and follow what He tells us to do in His Word. We have a chance to bring an agriculture revolution along with a spiritual revolution -- the most exciting prospect in agriculture missions!!

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

July Newsletter

2011-07-13T05:19:00.001-07:00

Julyl 2011 Equiplet.pdf Download this file

Hello friends -- here's our latest letter!

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

When the Boughs Break

2011-07-04T01:05:00.001-07:00

For my Canadian and American friends,

On our respective "Big Days" (July 1 in Canada and July 4 in USA)of celebration of the freedoms and great things we have in our countries we need to realize that we are, and have been for a while, on the brink of disaster. May we turn from our wicked ways and may God heal our land.

When the Boughs Break

July 4, 2011

"When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favor." (Isaiah 27:11)

Like a mighty tree towering over the forest, God raises up a mighty nation from time to time, with a great leader, to accomplish some purpose in the divine plan. He "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts 17:26).

But when that nation and its leaders become proud, and its people become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, it becomes like a tree whose branches wither and whose core becomes riddled with insect-caused decay. Finally, the boughs break, the kingdom will fall, and down will come that nation, its leaders and all!

That happened even to God's chosen nation, Israel, though only for a time in her case, since God's promises cannot fail. One after another, the mighty nations that God used to chastise His wayward people--Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Rome, etc.--have in turn been judged for their own rebellion against the God who "made them" and "formed them." God has warned that "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalm 9:17).

Is that about to happen to our beloved USA as well? The signs of self-seeking power and pride among our leaders and moral decay and spiritual rebellion among our people are widespread and growing worse. Our prayer should be that of the ancient prophet. "O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, . . . in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2). "Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Psalm 85:6). HMM

Print this article | More Days of Praise articles

Institute for Creation Research | 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229

Powered by phplist. This email was sent to sperling_equip@yahoo.ca. To unsubscribe, change your email address, or update your subscription, please go to www.icr.org/change

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Our eyes are feasting!

2011-06-05T11:01:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

I recently had the pleasure of attending the graduation of the 6 studenst at the first Come, Let's Dance (CLD) Vocational Agricultural School Graduation. This was the first class to graduate after finishing their Farming God's Way Course. I have been the Instructor for these great men and have enjoyed my time seeing them grow in their knowledge of the kingdom of God and farming.The day was ideal except for the early morning downpour that mucked up the roads pretty good and put out the fire on the pig-roasting spit -- but hey, which farmer is 'gonna complain about rain, right? The day turned sunny quickly and the stage and tent were set up in the middle of the beautiful fields on the farm. Guests and students enjoyed a wonderful and meaningful ceremony with the beautiful and appropriate backdrop of the lush green crops.These young men are now equipped to bring lasting, meaningful and grass-roots change to Africa. They have been taught how to live out the Kingdom on their land!

I decided to take a few of my model farmers from my region along with me for the graduation ceremony. I knew they would find the farm inspiring and they would make more connections with more enthusiastic farmers. Shortly after arriving I told a couple of "my" farmers that I needed to be busy helping to set up and I wouldn't be able to give them a proper tour right away. One piped up right away " that's OK, our eyes are feasting!". They were so thrilled with their day and I believe it will encourage them in their farms and churches (many of my model farmers are also pastors).

Well, onto the next exciting FGW event! This week I will be helping to facilitate the National FGW workshop held in Kampala annually. We are looking forward to touching base with many excited friends of FGW and to making more connections and train more people in the transformational tool that FGW is.

The following week I will be setting off for South Africa to be a part of the African FGW Extension Discussion workshop in Port Elizabeth. This will be an exciting time to touch base with so many experienced trainers and farmers on the very important topic of Extension. "Extension" is the training and equipping of farmers in their actual use of FGW. It includes teaching these farmers in different contexts, visiting them for follow-up and blessing, encouraging and equipping them on their journey in application of FGW principles and techniques. The FGW team in Africa is such a great family of encouragers and exhorters. I know our time will be rich!

Of course the downside to all of this activity is that I will be away from my wonderful family.

Please keep us all in your prayers as the enemy often tried to bring sickness and difficulty during my absence. We would treasure your prayers during the next two weeks. We want to see our family healthy and blessed even during my absence. Please pray for us all to have good health and that Jane will have the wisdom and energy to lead the family in my absence.

Jane has been away for a number of days overseeing some renovations on a house on the family homestead. Construction here can be pretty slow and of poor quality unless the owner is around to check on the workers. So, I have been mom and dad here at home for a little while so it will be Jane's turn over the next few weeks as I am away.

Please keep is in your prayers as we minister to those around us - whether they be farmers or not! We continue to need wisdom and courage to preach the good news -- in season and out of season!

Thanks everyone for all your care and support which takes so many forms,

Chris for the whole gang!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Happy Easter and a Trip to South Africa

2011-04-22T02:36:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends

We trust you are going to enjoy your Easter weekend at church, at home, perhaps on vacation -- with friends and with family!

We, too, are in the midst of Easter Celebrations. One encouraging new item in the midst of our "Walk to Work" demonstrations against high fuel prices(read "riots") has been the recent decision by Uganda's largest daily newspaper to let Uganda clergy edit the Sunday Vision Newspaper this coming Easter weekend. You can read about that here: http://goo.gl/P32oD

We have a very large "Christian" population in Uganda but when you see the way people think and behave it is evident that first of all our Christianity runs very shallow and second of all it has not brought the transforming power that Jesus talked about in the parables of the salt and leaven. People were shocked in 2004 when Rwanda, what was thought to be a very Christian nation, was plunged into the genocide that we know all too well. Please pray for our nation Uganda and the the work we (and many others) are doing so that people will truly be transformed from the inside out so that Christianity will cause real, deep and lasting change to the glory of God. This process happens through discipleship which is a much slower but surer process of development and transformation.

We continue our work with Farming God's Way (FGW)which takes us into the homes and gardens of many people around Uganda. We try to use these chances to challenge those who know Christ to bring His government into all areas of their lives and for those who are not Christians it is a chance for them to hear the gospel in a way that they may have never heard before.

One of the tasks that I have is to loosely oversee the training that goes on here in Uganda. One way we assist those wanting to implement FGW is by holding monthly FGW forum meetings where people from many different churches and NGOs have a chance to ask about FGW and how to put it into practice. Members also get a chance to share their successes and struggles with using FGW. At one of our meetings a pastor from Northern Uganda who is planting churches in the rural areas told shared how he tells new members of the congregation that they must use FGW because he is not willing to come a pray against the "demons of poverty" when the real issue is a change in the way people live and farm!! Maybe a bit extreme, but when people don't want to change (and suffer for it) some extreme measures may be needed to "encourage" them!

As one of the leaders of the Steering Committee for the Uganda FGW forum and one of two Accredited Trainers in the country I have been invited to attend the FGW Extension Discussion meeting in Port Elizabeth, South Africa (June 16/17) where FGW trainers and implementers from all over Africa will be meeting together to discuss their extension strategies and plans as well as successes and challenges. This will be a tremendous time to learn and share with many skilled individuals including some key farmers (like Dixon, from Malawi) who will be contributing to the discussion!

In order to go, obviously, I will need to fly down to South Africa. I am planning to be there a few days after the Workshop and have more time with Grant (the chief African trainer)and his family and continue building our relationship from the last time I had there when I was down in Lesotho and SA in September of last year.

Would you be willing to make a contribution to this trip to make it possible? It will cost about $1200. I already have a $200 donation from friends in SA. So I am remaining with $1000. You can donate to our Work Fund Account which is specifically for such expenses.

Follow the link right here to donate on line in Canada (or here : to donate online in the US)or just go to our website links below at the bottom of this mail.

To donate by cheque through the mail you can send the cheque to the address below:

Equip Inc.
PO Box 1126
Marion, NC 28752-1126 USA
call Equip's USA Headquarters at 828-738-3891

Equip Canada
PO Box 683
Duncan, BC V9L 3Yl
CANADA

Blessings to you all as you continue to be a part of the success of God's Kingdom in Africa.

Chris for the whole clan!

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

April Newsletter

2011-04-13T22:40:00.001-07:00

April 2011 Equiplet.pdf Download this file

Here is our latest news...

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Cookbook for Sale!

2011-04-11T01:33:00.001-07:00

Friends, this is a wonderful cookbook put together by our friend Angelica Weiss. You can order one by sending her an e-mail. They are $10 each and the profits go towards our work here (about $5/book). Nicely laid out and over 400 "taste-tested" recipes from great people in Canada! The book has already raised a significant amount of money for us and no doubt has brought some great food to many a home!

In British Columbia

e-mail Angelica <angelikaweiss@shaw.ca>

Subject:Order Cookbook on behalf of Sperlings

In Saskatchewan

e-mail Ken and Dawn Sperling <ken.dawn@sasktel.net>;

Subject:Order Cookbook on behalf of Sperlings

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Off to Arua

2011-03-10T11:13:00.001-08:00

Soon I will be enjoying a low elevation flight from Entebbe up to the West Nile region of Uganda. The rolling hills and the papyrus swamps will pass alternately under the wings of the little Eagle Air plane as we head North-West, first over the Central Buganda region and then over the north end of Lake Albert where the White Nile flows into the northern tip of Lake Albert and then very quickly out and north towards Sudan and then we will finally land at Arua Town where it is most likely to be very hot and dry. I have been invited by the Director of Here is Life, Isaac Anguyo to help them train their Agriculture teacher at their Technical School. We will also see if we can do some planning for the hundreds of acres of land they have. They want, like so many other ministries here to make their ministry self-sustaining through farming projects.

It is exciting to have the chance to get Farming God's Way started in West Nile. The people of the West Nile region, the Lugbara, are known to be hard working people. The specific place is called Aringa which is actually a separate area with it's own dialect of the Lugbara language. Pray that God will work in and through me to encourage these people to let His Kingdom come in the area of agriculture -- so that his glory may be revealed in how they live and farm everyday.

Pray for the agriculture teacher Godfrey whom I will be spending a lot of my week with; pray that he will catch the spirit of Farming God's Way -- having a heart for the poor and helping them in wisdom (Psalm 41:1)

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

A time to teach

2011-02-12T04:28:00.001-08:00

Well, there's a time for everything -- including a time to train and teach farmers. That time, for me, here in Uganda, is during our dry season. We are still in the first and longest of our two dry seasons here in Uganda and I have been able to successfully run workshops in all four of the Deliverance Churches where we are training local farmers. I was also able to add another training hub in a small village called Bubugo which is also in the same region but is a church that is under a training program run by my friend Nathan Jore. I also ran a three day "Introduction to Farming God's Way" seminar for church and NGO leaders in the Jinja area. As well, I continued teaching and training at the Come Let's Dance (CLD)Agricultural Vocational Institute. The CLD course wrapped up with the first group of students yesterday as they sat their final exams and attended the Farming God's Way forum monthly meeting.

It has been crazy, but in many ways it must be that way. I have determined to reach our farming communities in the dry season for the training workshops so that the farmers have time to think about, observe and plan for a Farming God's Way (FGW) garden on their farm. If we don't reach them in time they will have planted all of their crops and will thus not have any place on their farm to plant according to FGW methods. And having no place for a garden means they will not have tried to adapt theses revolutionary farming practices -- which means they will not have a chance to test and taste the fruit of doing things God's way. We measure our success by adaptation and the quality of that adaptation.

Our dry seasons are usually from the end of December up until the end of February and then also during the months of July and August. During this times the farmers have more time to attend workshops and are not so tied to their gardens. In Farming God's Way timing is one of the major keys to success in farming; it is also a major key to the success of training. So I have had about one seminar per week in the last month and a half. The rains haven't yet come and I am breathing a sigh of relief as the training is done and I can now get ready to do farmer visitations; helping keen farmers to set up their fields and to encourage them on their new journey.

The attached photo is of the area in which we do our rural church ministry. North is to the right (West is towards the top). The roads are mostly poor so it takes about 30 minutes to the closest church and more than an hour to the further ones (Kamuli, Kisozi and Lwanyama). Jinja to Kamuli is less than 60km as the crow flies but takes about an hour with current road conditions.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

family picture

2010-12-20T23:29:00.001-08:00

Hello Friends!!

Here is a copy of our latest family picture, if you are a part of a mailing list could you please forward it to the people on your list? Thanks so much and... Merry Christmas!!

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Fw: Sperling newsletter

2010-11-17T02:53:00.001-08:00

Download now or preview on posterous

Christmas 2010 Equiplet.doc (7549 KB)

Here's our latest Newsletter! Enjoy.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Come Let's Dance

2010-11-09T04:40:00.001-08:00

Does not having blogged for a while mean I am too busy doing other stuff! Well probably, but I guess one of the qualities of a good blogger is that they find the time and have th discipline of sitting down and getting something down on (cyber) paper. My excuses -- a couple kids broke limbs, one had a snake bite, Jane has been gone for a number of days helping solve "family issues" in the village and I have been busy teaching Farming God's Way. So... let's see if I can actually make some of these excuses into a decent blog entry...

I am so thrilled to be teaching Farming God's Way at a small vocational school ( 0°27'1.41"N, 32°19'17.24"E) just north-west of Kampala in a district called Wakiso near a little trading center called Mwera . What is thrilling is that I have a captive audience of 5 young men (my students) and the farm manager as we go through the FGW material both in class and in the field. I first heard about the training opportunity when a Ugandan called Ben e-mailed my colleague Karl Buchholz about getting a trainer out at their CLD (Come Let's Dance) campus. At the time Karl and I were headed out the door (almost literally) to leave for South Africa and Lesotho where we both successfully did our FGW in-field mentorship. Ben needed a trainer - he had a school, students, land, a farm manager and funding, would we help to train the students? After coming back from South Africa I met Josh, an American, at one of our monthly FGW forums who also works with CLD and we made arrangements for me to make my first visit out to the vocational farm. I have returned every week since and have now got a bit of a routine where I stay for two days and a night meanwhile running classes and field work (practicals) for about two full days. I am so excited about teaching at the CLD school as this is an opportunity to train and disciple 5 young men and the farm manager in Kingdom Agricilture. They are all eager to learn and are excited to do a lot of hands on stuff! The education system here is full of a lot of theory but not much practical hands on experience. These guys will have a wealth of experience by the tie they finish in February. We'd love your prayers as we seek to change the nation through people such as these young guys!

To see more pics just check out my CLD album on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=310515&id=607170015&l=f4ac6afdcb

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Self Esteem

2010-10-11T23:48:00.001-07:00

In this day and age where we are SO focused on our own feelings and problems we need God's word to help set us straight. The following devotion is very clear and straightforward about this. " when we focus around us on the world we get distressed, when focus inwards on ourselves we get depressed, when we focus above on God we finf rest"

----Forwarded Message----
From: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca
To: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca
Sent: Mon Oct 11th, 2010 11:01 PM EDT
Subject: October 12 - Self Esteem

Self Esteem
October 12, 2010
"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves." (Philippians 2:3

)
There is a great emphasis these days, even among Christians, on
developing a positive self-image, building up one's self-esteem, and
seeking self-fulfillment. The emphasis is on one's own self. But God's
Word teaches differently.
One famous television pastor even developed his own unbiblical
definition of sin: "Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or
another human being of his or her self-esteem." Then he even redefined
being born again as being "changed from a negative to a positive
self-image."
Such concepts are diametrically opposed to Scripture, though often
cloaked in pseudo-biblical garb, and they are leading multitudes away
from the true gospel and true Christian life. We do not need a
positive self-image. In reality, we need a realistic self-image--to
see ourselves as God sees us. Paul warned: "For I say, through the
grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly,
according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Romans
12:3
).
Paul served Christ faithfully for 30 years, yet still esteemed
himself as chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15

), and testified that it was only "by the grace of God I am what I am"
(1 Corinthians 15:10
). Jesus said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself"
(Luke 9:23
). "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to
bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his
presence" (1 Corinthians 1:27-29

). HMM

Print this article
| More Days of Praise articles

Institute for Creation Research
| 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229

Powered by phplist
. This email was sent to sperling_equip@yahoo.ca. To unsubscribe, change
your email
address, or update your subscription, please go to
http://www.icr.org/change

----Forwarded Message----

From: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca
To: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca
To: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca
Sent: Mon Oct 11th, 2010 11:01 PM EDT
Subject: October 12 - Self Esteem

Self Esteem

October 12, 2010

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves." (Philippians 2:3)

There is a great emphasis these days, even among Christians, on developing a positive self-image, building up one's self-esteem, and seeking self-fulfillment. The emphasis is on one's own self. But God's Word teaches differently.

One famous television pastor even developed his own unbiblical definition of sin: "Sin is any act or thought that robs myself or another human being of his or her self-esteem." Then he even redefined being born again as being "changed from a negative to a positive self-image."

Such concepts are diametrically opposed to Scripture, though often cloaked in pseudo-biblical garb, and they are leading multitudes away from the true gospel and true Christian life. We do not need a positive self-image. In reality, we need a realistic self-image--to see ourselves as God sees us. Paul warned: "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Romans 12:3).

Paul served Christ faithfully for 30 years, yet still esteemed himself as chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), and testified that it was only "by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). Jesus said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself" (Luke 9:23). "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence" (1 Corinthians 1: 27-29). HMM

Print this article | More Days of Praise articles

Institute for Creation Research | 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229

Powered by phplist. This email was sent to sperling_equip@yahoo.ca. To unsubscribe, change your email address, or update your subscription, please go to www.icr.org/change

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Fw: Farming God's Way In Field Metoring Report - Lesotho

2010-10-11T01:47:00.001-07:00

Download now or preview on posterous

Lesotho_Sept_2010.pdf (280 KB)

Hello friends,

Here is a little report from our recent Farming God's Way In-Field Mentoring in Lesotho.

Blessings,

Chris

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Sperling update

2010-09-10T09:19:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

here is our latest update!

blessings,

Chris for the clan!

Included are photos of FGW training, a map of Lesotho where Chris will be, and a few of Anna's dedication and a few other random pics from around home.

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Download now or preview on posterous

Sept 10 10 update.doc (14 KB)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Sperling update

2010-09-10T09:18:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

here is our latest update!

blessings,

Chris for the clan!

Included are photos of FGW training, a map of Lesotho where Chris will be, and a few of Anna's dedication and a few other random pics from around home.

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Download now or preview on posterous

Sept 10 10 update.doc (14 KB)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

a trip to Lesotho

2010-09-02T13:20:00.001-07:00

In about two weeks I will be traveling to South Africa and then on to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho (Le SOO too). This will actually be my first time to travel within Africa itself other than Rwanda where I have been a couple times. I am really looking forward to it – I really enjoy going to new places – especially seeing the new/different beauty of a new place. I daydream about hiking around the jagged hills with a good camera or riding a bike on the curly mountain roads.

I have been invited to Lesotho as part of a mentorship and training process with Farming God's Way. So not only am I looking forward to going to a new place but looking forward to connecting with a bunch of people who are keen on farming and God's Kingdom and who have a love for the poor. It should be great!

We are going to be camping out under the stars and moving out into surrounding villages during the day to teach our three day workshops on Farming God's Way. As a mentee I will be closely observed as to how I understand the FGW material and how well I can implement it in terms of a setting up a demonstration garden ( what we call a Well Watered Garden in FGW). As mentees we will be responsible for teaching about 75% of the workshops and setting up the Well-Watered Gardens. In the evenings we will go over the days teaching and our failures and successes as well as how we will teach the next days teaching material.

If I am seen to have largely mastered the FGW curriculum as well as displaying a heart for the poor we will become accredited trainers – able to train others in our home countries/regions with the assurance that we are maintaining the heart and standard of FGW.

I have had a series of FGW workshops that I have been conducting lately in our local rural churches from Deliverance Church so the teaching is fresh in my mind. I have also been continuing to work on my own garden and one at church and going over some workbooks and the DVD series to try to stay fresh and deep in my knowledge of all that FGW is.

I feel like I was made for FGW material as it combines agriculture and the King dome of God in such a real and applicable manner – making it an excellent platform for preaching the gospel and for teaching more about the Kingdom of God (which is a poorly understood topic among Christians here in sub-Sahara Africa). I am able to combine my teaching preaching skills (thanks to my dad – a pastor and teacher and also to my Christian education), my knowledge and love for the Kingdom of God (thanks to my history in Salt and Light Churches and the teaching of Brian Watts), and farming (thanks to my Mennonite blood and growing up on and near and working on farms – and also thanks to the way God made me). God is amazing how he uses so many things in our lives to make us who we are and then to use us!

I will try to send a couple updates – at least on Facebook- and hopefully here on the blog too, once I am in Southern Africa. Stay tuned for an update “from the Mountain Kingdom”.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Announcing the latest Sperling Model

2010-07-22T03:14:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!!

We are so happy to announce the arrival of our newest Sperling model, The Female 2010;

Anna Rose Teta Sperling

Rolled off the production line at: 08:46hrs July 1st, 2010 by C-section

Weight 3.2Kg

Height 51 centimeters

Many thanks for all your prayers for the Producer during the production period. This was not any easy job getting this model together.

Most of all our thanks goes to The Designer with out Whom this new model would not be possible.

Please note: This model is for viewing only for the next 20 years. Any serious inquiries will only be handled after the predetermined waiting period by the Correspondence Supervisor.

Your truly,

Chris Sperling (Co-producer, Correspondence Supervisor)

NB please find attached photos of our "Anna" model

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Announcing the latest Sperling Model

2010-07-07T04:35:00.001-07:00

Hello Everyone!!

We are so happy to announce the arrival of our newest Sperling model, The Female 2010;

Anna Rose Teta Sperling

Rolled off the production line at: 08:46hrs July 1st, 2010 by C-section

Weight 3.2Kg

Height 51 centimeters

Many thanks for all your prayers for the Producer during the production period. This was not any easy job getting this model together.

Most of all our thanks goes to The Designer with out Whom this new model would not be possible.

Please note: This model is for viewing only for the next 20 years. Any serious inquiries will only be handled after the predetermined waiting period by the Correspondence Supervisor.

Your truly,

Chris Sperling (Co-producer, Correspondence Supervisor)

NB please find attached photos of our "Anna" model

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

That's Where Jesus Is

2010-07-07T04:08:00.001-07:00

A song from one of my favorite bands: The Lost Dogs

He’s not sittin’ up in the White House

Not subject to your big debate
Keeps His hands completely off Wall Street
Don’t own stocks, bonds or Real Estate
He ain’t up droppin’ bombs on people
Or workin’ on a college degree
He tunes out all them radio blowhards
Can’t stand the networks and religious TV

That’s Jesus in the homeless faces
With the junkies in their livin’ hell
That’s Jesus with the drunks and in
The lonely places
The rest homes and prison cells
That’s where Jesus is
That’s where Jesus is

He don’t hug trees or kill ‘em
Or drive a particular car
Won’t help you write a big hit song
Don’t care how good lookin’ you are
And Jesus won’t be voting
He’s not your party crashin’ dog in this fight
Not a fan rootin’ for your home team
Don’t insure that your future is bright

That’s Jesus in the homeless faces
With the junkies in their livin’ hell
That’s Jesus with the drunks and in
The lonely places
The rest homes and prison cells
That’s where Jesus is
Where we ought to be
Here’s where Jesus works
Inside you and me
With the folks with AIDS
And the suffering kids
That’s where Jesus hangs
That’s where Jesus is

On the corner ‘round the prostitutes
Is where He’ll probably show
He gets invited to church sometimes
And sometimes He don’t go
Don’t care nuthin’ about your status
What you can or you can’t afford
Don’t care if you’re voted best actor
Not impressed with your big award

He’s not in the five star restaurant
Eating a six course meal
He’s not over on some golf course
Discussing the oil deal

He wants our voice (That’s where Jesus is)
That’s how He talks (That’s where Jesus is)
That’s how He walks (That’s where Jesus is)
And He wants our faith (That’s where Jesus is)
But there’s never enough
He wants our hearts (That’s where Jesus is)
That’s how He Loves

That’s where Jesus is
That’s where Jesus is
That’s where Jesus is

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Representing our Father

2010-06-24T23:33:00.001-07:00

Want to be a missionary? It's not as hard as you think.

You don't have to raise thousands of dollars for support. You don't need a theology Degree.You don't need a big mission organization behind you.

You just need to be Christ's light where you are.

I have found that I often am focused on my missionary job description here in Uganda and get discouraged if the day-to-day routine does not always fit with what I came to do here in Uganda. I came to teach people about farming and through this make followers of Christ and to minister to the poor alongside the local church. This work is great and very exciting –even very unique. I feel it's what I was made to do! Agriculture missions are not the most common type of missionary work so they are often miss-understood or undervalued. But that's OK (and that's NOT why I'm writing this). I find the challenges for me are not always “at work” but in the day-to-day life and how I respond to those around me. How do I respond to the taxi driver who wants to cheat me? To my Muslim friends who work for me? How do I drive? What do I spend my time thinking about and doing? How do I treat my children and wife? These are the things that many others notice (and Ugandans are VERY observant people).

So, this helps me when I feel discouraged that I'm not doing all the farming and agriculture teaching that I would like to. I can relax and realize that I have the opportunity of being a missionary 24 -7. I can take time to talk to my carpenter about polygamy. Or be courteous to a rude taxi driver (that's hard!). Or make sure I treat those who work for me fairly and those who live with me like the father and husband they need me to be. It is in the day-to-day circumstances that hold excitement, disappointment, sorrow and difficulty that we will have an opportunity to display what God has worked in us. It will be of little use in the Kingdom of God if I have large training programs in farming but fail to be an example of how one of our Father's children should behave when the pressure is on. If we are not careful we can “do God's work” but fail to represent Him.

So, you can be a missionary anywhere – just as long as you are representing Christ.

Our troubles with missions is not always failing to go to the ends of the earth (yes we should do this!) but having difficulty showing the people at the ends of the earth what kind of Father has sent us! By God's grace may we truly represent our Father and His Son as His Spirit guides us to be the fragrance of life to those God is leading to salvation.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

June 2010 letter

2010-06-14T01:59:00.001-07:00

Download now or preview on posterous

EquipletJune (1).pdf (1044 KB)

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

May God help us to always put His Kingdom first

2010-05-11T01:03:00.001-07:00

This is a recent devotional I read; it's message is simple but of highest importance.

A Righteous Desire

May 11, 2010

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." (Matthew 6:33)

The Pharisees of Jesus' day were quite "religious" in their behavior, but our Lord often took them to task because "all their works they do for to be seen of men" (Matthew 23:5).

God's Kingdom Is First Priority: The Lord's admonition in our text was given to focus His followers beyond the "ordinary" desires and needs of their physical existence. We are expected to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). As promised, when we are rightly focused, "all these other things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33)

Yielded to Righteousness: We become "servants" of those things that we "obey." We obey that which we have "yielded" ourselves to (Romans 6:16). It is not possible to "serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24). Our "members" (our physical bodies) can either become "instruments" (weapons) of ungodliness or of righteousness (Romans 6:13). We either "walk" after the Spirit or after the flesh (Romans 8:1).

Doggedly Pursue Godliness: "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness" (1 Timothy 6:11). Even though our "new man" longs for righteousness, and we consciously yield ourselves to seek and serve God's kingdom, "with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin" (Romans 7:25).

We must never become slack in our diligence. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). HMM III

Print this article | More Days of Praise articles

Institute for Creation Research | 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229

Powered by phplist. This email was sent to sperling_equip@yahoo.ca. To unsubscribe, change your email address, or update your subscription, please go to www.icr.org/change

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

FGWUG

2010-05-05T05:43:00.001-07:00

FGWUG

Hugh? What is FGWUG? Well that is an acronym for Farming God's Way -Uganda Group. This is a group of men and women who are excited about FGW and all the potential that this method of conservation agriculture holds many of the answers fro pulling the peasant farmers of Uganda out of poverty through learning biblical principles of stewardship and agriculture techniques that suit "hand-hoe" farmers. I recently joined the group and have been asked to become the national implementor for the group. Most of the members are missionaries, nationals involved in church leadership or Christian nationals in the agricultural sector. We are developing a national strategy for how to teach and implement FGW. It is exciting to see such a diverse group of people work together to see God's Kingdom come in such a practical and meaningful way. We believe we are going to see an agriculture revolution parallel with an awakening to the understanding of the Kingdom of God. It is so great to see people start to learn to see how God has solutions for all of life's problems - to see that everything is spiritual -- even the way we farm!

Among our diverse group are a German widower, a Dutch Bible-school teacher, American missionaries, another Canadian widower remarried to a Canadian missionary, a Ugandan government inspector for Agriculture and even a Canadian married to a Rwandan lady (wonder who he is?) and many more...

Our next major event is a seminar hosted by the FGW guys from SA, including the chief African implementor Grant Dryden. Grant is a great speaker is a great motivator when it comes to FGW!

I'm sure you will hear more about FGWUG as it grows and begins to tackle the idea of converting Uganda to Conservation Farming through teaching the Kingdom of God.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Untitled

2010-04-09T03:41:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday I went with our pastor, "pastor Billy" to re-visit the rural churches where we had done some FGW training about a month ago. We found the well-watered gardens in generally good shape although bugs had all but destroyed the beans at Namagera. One of the pastor's wives is our first real implementor which is exciting. her garden is doing quite well and there is a marked difference in her garden as opposed to neighboring gardens. Although FGW makes so much sense as a trainer it is a long battle to convince people to actually adapt Farming God's Way as a system. One of the biggest keys to adaptation is to get a few local farmers who are eager to implement. Once their felow villagers see what they are doing and that this is not just magezi muzungu (White man's wisdom) adaptation rates are much higher.

Our goal is not just to have high adaptation rates so that we feel useful in our rural work. Higher adaptation rates mean higher yields, lower soil and water losses and an increase of prodoctivity per area. When farmers can use less land for more production then other areas of their farms can be switched over to agro-forestry and animal rearing making the farm much more self-sufficient and profitable.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Mbarara

2010-03-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

Last week I (Chris) traveled about 400km west to beautiful Mbarara District. Mbarara is one of the Western parts of Uganda with beautiful rolling hills, large banana plantations tucked in valleys and on slopes between vast pasture land. The rolling hills and well-kept plantations are very enjoyable to drive through. The seminar was held in Mbarara Town, the District Headquarters for Mbarara District

The road between Kampala and Mbarara town is under major construction with the old road being ripped up and a new and wider foundation and road being laid. The end result is a much nicer road in the finished sections but a lot of dust, mud and bumps in between the black smooth finished portions. We don't have the maintenance culture here in Uganda, so instead of putting in money on a lower but more consistent level into road maintenance the country waits until the road almost totally falls apart and looks for foreign funding or tax money to totally re-do the road.

The seminar was hosted by our friends from Church of Christ Mbarara who have a beautiful building on High Street in which they hosted the seminar. We had over 40 people attend the three day workshop who were from several different churches and NGOs being represented. The seminar included people from as far away as Kasese and For Portal.A number of the groups have already been implementing Farming God's Way (FGW) so this was an excellent opportunity to clarify their understanding and to assess how they are doing when measured against the FGW standards. Our last day was spent teaching the students how to make countour lines or rows across a steep slope when using an A-frame. We closed out the last day with putting in a Well-watered Garden. The idea of the Well-watered Garden is based on Isaiah 58 (espv 11) where God's people are blessed to become a like a fruitful garden as they have considered the poor and the widow and have removed the yoke of oppression. The garden is the training ground for FGW techniques and principles and serves as an example of what our gardens can look like when we do things God's way. By the time we have just marked out the planting holes the garden starts to reflect the order and sterwardship that God first intended man to have over the earth. Once the garden has grown up it is very easy for by-passers to see the difference between conventional farming and Farming God's Way.

Most of the seminars take on a similar format although the ones I conduct in the rural churchesChurches are translated into the local language and I use very little of the DVD series and do most of the teaching myself. It is our rural churches around the jinja area where we will do most of our follow-up. It can often take 5 years to start to see significant adaptation of the FGW methods and principles. There is a lot of work ahead!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Doing some farming with the boys

2010-03-08T12:21:00.001-08:00

Recently we went out to a nearby plot that some friends have let us put our garden on. The boys enjoyed the day gardening.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Sperling Newsletter Feb 2010

2010-03-01T02:29:00.001-08:00

Sperling Jerry Can

February 20, 2010

“Muli mutya banafe?”

How are you, our people?” This is a question in Luganda – the main language here in Uganda. We hope you can answer “Tuli bulungi” which means “We are fine”. Yes, we do hope you are fine and that the New Year has got off to a good start.

Since the New Year I have not really set any goals or aspirations. This is not because I lack motivation but because it seems that the New Year actually started with our return to Uganda in October. Since the end of October this has been a season of new things – a new school year for the boys, a new baby on the way, a new season of work here in Uganda. Although we have served in agriculture missions for some time, this is the first time we are exclusively training and teaching farmers full time. Previously we have worked alongside existing programs and organizations so it is very exciting to start off this new year with a fresh start into a new phase of serving in God’s Kingdom.

Farming God’s Way seminars

Farming God’s Way-(FGW) www.farming-gods-way.org has become our main source of material and inspiration for the work we are doing. I first attended a FGW seminar a year ago at New Hope Uganda where we used to live and serve. The FGW seminar addressed the many challenges I saw facing the Ugandan farmers – the solutions are both spiritual and technical (because the problems are both spiritual and physical). It was not difficult for us to adapt and start using the material for our work.

Since returning we have put on three two-day seminars and by the time this letter reaches you we will have started our village seminar series in the local Deliverance Churches (DC). Our very first seminar was done at our home church, DC Walukuba. Our pastor wanted me to teach the congregation and the leadership team so that when we took the seminars to the village our members would know and understand what is being taught. We now have a Well-Watered Garden (a FGW demonstration plot) at the church property that the congregation is very excited about. The next pair of seminars after this first one was meant to serve the local farmers, church leaders and NGO members interested in farming. These two seminars at the beginning of February were very successful with over 60 people attending and a total of over 30 NGO’s and churches being represented during the two seminars. Each class put in a Well Watered Garden which was the training ground for applying what they learned.

Farming God’s Way seminars

Over the next month we are heading to rural areas mostly within about 80km of Jinja. We will train church members from our Deliverance Church family. On March 17-19 we will be running a more extensive three day seminar in Mbarara in Western Uganda (about 400km from our home in Jinja). This will be exciting to see a new group of people embrace FGW in a region where we used to live (2003). These seminars are very revolutionary for farmers; we are taking the farmers on a journey from poor management skills to a very careful management system at the same time they are introduced to the idea of zero tillage and constant mulch cover which replace the traditional ideas of how farming should be done. They will very likely see more than a tenfold increase in crop yields if they uphold FGW principles.

Well Watered Gardens

A Well Watered Garden is a small demonstration plot where farmers learn about praying over the land and breaking curses over it, about carefully measuring the plant spacing, minimal/ zero tillage principles, the importance of maintaining God’s Blanket (mulching) and many other FGW principles. These gardens are a “light” in the community. They are well kept, well watered and are generally grown in the dry season so that local farmers can assess what FGW is all about before they give it a go in the next rainy season.

Family

Life has not been without it’s struggles since coming back to Uganda. Although we are excited about our next baby, Jane has felt very sick with the regular “morning sickness” but has had additional troubles such as a severe sinus infection which she is just getting over now. The boys have all had malaria once and I have had trouble with my teeth – having a root canal done and crown to be put on soon. We have also had trouble with our house help as our girl Ruth who had learned very well how to keep our home left without notice a few weeks ago. Another girl who we had been helping out by letting her stay here has also recently left as we could not tolerate her lying and deceitfulness any longer. We have a new helper who is just learning the ropes which is a bit hard on Jane as she has little energy to train a new worker. We also had a visit from Cindy Benda who spent over a week in Jinja; Cindy will return within the year to join the Equip Team here. Cindy is a well-experienced Nurse who served in the US army and grew up in Congo so Africa is not new to her.

Prayer Needs

Please pray for us as we take FGW to the rural churches in our area.

Pray for safety in travel and security at our home

Pray for our health, especially Jane in her pregnancy

Pray for open hearts to God’s Word as we share our lives with people

Pray for a teacher for the boys (K, Grade 2)

Pray that we will always be ready to share the Hope that is within us

Financial Needs

We continue to need more regular supporters. If you have committed to monthly or annual support please remember to renew your support as the new year has already began. January 2010 was our lowest level of support over the last 12 months. We also are continuing to raise money for a truck for our rural work with FGW. If you want to contribute to our general support please send your cheques with a separate note: “for Sperling Support”. For contributions to the seminars, the truck and the upcoming ministry trips please designate on a separate note: “for Sperling Work Fund”

Blessings and thanks to all of you for your love and care for us,

Chris and Jane,

Andrew, Tugume, Kenny, Albert, Isaiah, and Ezra

e-mail: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca

To donate on line go to: www.sperlingsinafrica.com

Subscribe to our blog:www.sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Follow us on Twitter : “sperlings”

In the US donations can be sent to:

Equip, Inc.

PO Box 1126, Marion, N.C.

USA, 28752-1126

In Canada donations can be sent to:

Equip Canada

PO Box 683

Duncan B.C.

V9L 3Y1

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

February Update

2010-02-15T01:41:00.001-08:00

Well friends it has been some time since we sent you all an update about how life is going here back at home in Uganda. We have been very busy thus the long gap between proper updates. I have had two seminars lately that have kept me busy but have been very fruitful and exciting. We ran two identical Farming God's Way (FGW)Seminars in two consecutive weeks at the begining of February. I am now planning and preparing for a slightly more extensive seminar in Mbarara in mid March.

These initial FGW seminars are aimed at what we call FGW champions who are basically church leaders and people involved in Agriculture with an NGO or are community leaders in Agriculture. These Chamions are our real representatives who will take the message of the Kingdom and how it affects every area of life -- including farming, to their organisations,churches and communites. So far in the three breif seminars we have trained about 90 people from well over 30 0rganisations and Churches. FGW training material provides a spiritual base for why we do the technical part and emphasises good management which can only really be a bi-product of a life transformed by God Himself.

In addition to the training coming up in Mbarara Chris is hoping to carry on from there to Rwanda and Burundi and possibly Eastern Congo. The plan is to run at least one seminar in each location. We have friends in Rwanda and Burundi who will host me. Please pray for direction and guidance as we consider going to these countries. It wil be lots of traveling and about two weeks apprat from the family.

Aside from work we have had some health struggles -- the boys have been mostly healthy since returning to Uganda in October until recently almost all of them had malaria at the same time. Jane has struggled quite a bit with morning sickness and also had a severe sinus infection which finally seems to be clearing up after seeing speciallist in Kampala.

We have also been sorting out our work visas which has been quite a headache as we have three classes of visas in our family and they all come due at varying times with varying processes. In addition to this Uganda is now asking that foreigners need to have a security letter from the RCMP. This,as we found out after quite a bit of research, is also another big long process including getting fingerprinted here in Uganda and mailing them off to Ottawa and waiting up to four months for a result. Also, the visas are now all in US dollars and are more pricey than they used to be (almost double in most cases).

Recently we had the pleasure of having future Equip Missionary Cindy Benda at our home for about a week. Cindy had come out to scout the land as she prepares to join the Equip team here in Jinja. We will now have the Boones, Cindy and ourselves working here in Jinja. Cindy is a retired nurse from the US Army and was a sergeant at the end of her career. She grew up in Eastern Congo so she remembers visiting Western Uganda and even Kampala as a child. She will be working mostly in community health and most likely serving alongside the Boones and ourselves in programs focused on prevention and education.

The boys are doing well with Andrew and Tugume having just started their school year at the nearby school and Kenny and Albert working their schoolwork at home; they are studying the Canadian Curriculum and are attached to the Abbotsford School District Distance Learning program. Ezra loves running around and is learning to talk now very quickly - a very cute and fun stage!

In closing, we have the following prayer requests.

1. please continue to pray that God will guide and bless us as we seek to deciple men and women through our ministry to farmers

2. Pray that God will make us a light and an example to our community where we live ( Wanyange.)

3. Pray that God will give us good health and strength as a family so we are able to continue to serve effectively.

4. Pray for safety as we travel on both short and long distances. Uganda's roads are notoriously bad -- as well as the driving habits of the people using the road leave much to be desired.

5. Pray for continued provision for both our ministry and personal salary. Our new year has gotten off to a very slow start financially.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Untitled

2010-02-14T02:52:00.001-08:00

These initial FGW seminars are aimed at what we call FGW champions who are basically church leaders and people involved in Agriculture with an NGO or are community leaders in Agriculture. These Chamions are our real reprasentatives who will take the message of the Kingdom and how it affects every area of life -- including farming, to their organisations,churches and communites. So far in the three breif seminars we have trained about 90 people from well over 30 0rganisations and Churches. FGW training material provides a spiritual base for why we do the technical part and emphasises good management which can only really be a bi-product of a life transformed by God Himself.

In addition to the training coming up in Mbarara Chris is hoping to carry on from there to Rwanda and Burundi and possibly Congo. Teh plan is to run at least one seminar in each location. We have friends in Rwanda and Burundi who will host us. Please pray for direction and guidance as we consider going to these countries. It wil be lots of traveling and about two weeks apprat from the family.

ASide from work we have had some health struggles -- the boys have been mostly healthy since returning to uganda in October until recently almost all of them had malaria at the same time. Jane has struggled wuite abit with morning sickness and also had a severe sinus infection which finally seems to be clearing up finally after seeing speciallist in Kampala.

We have also been sorting out our work visas which has been quite a headache as we have three classed of visas in our family and they are all come due at varying times with varying processes. In addition to this Uganda is now asking that foreigners need to have a security letter from the RCMP. This,as we found out after quite a bit of research is also another big long process including getting fingerprinted here in Uganda and mailing it off to Ottawa and waiting up to four months for a result. Also the visas are now all in Dollars and are more pricey thatn they used to be (almost double in most cases).

Recently we had the pleasure of having future Equip Missionary Cindy Benda at our home for about a week. Cindy had come out to scout the land as she prepares to join the Equip team here in Jinja. We will now have the Boones, Cindy and ourselves working here in Jinja. Cindy is a retired nurse from the US army and was a sergeant at the end of her career. She grew up in Eastern Congo so she remembers visitng Western Uganda and even Kampala as a child. She will be working mostly in community health and most likely serving alongside the Boones and ourselves in programs focused on prevention and education.

In closing we have the following prayer requests.

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

FGW seminar pics

2010-02-05T05:19:00.001-08:00

We recently had our first full fledged FGW seminar here in Jinja. It was hosted at the Source Cafe. We had over 30 attendees from among the local churches and NGOs. It was so good to get farmers excited about farming and about the FGW techniques and principles!

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

What are we seeking first?

2010-01-16T23:36:00.001-08:00

What are we seeking first?

Well friends it has been a little while since we have given you an update on life here.

We have settled back into Ugandan life quite well – this does not mean that we are without many a frustrating moment when confronted with how corrupt and evil our country has become. We pray that God will have mercy on us and that people will still turn to Him. What is most frustrating is the state of the church – but having said that we know that God is ultimately the one who is saving and transforming individuals to become part of His Body and that He is still at work despite the alarming trends we see here in the church.

What is very upsetting is that greed and corruption have now become a deep part of many churches and church leadership – especially in the urban churches here. Jane recently showed me a flyer of a Christian women’s crusade coming to the area. She was interested in attending and had hope that it would provide her some help and guidance as a mother, wife and woman of God. I looked at the theme: “Dealing with the Grasshopper Spirit...Numbers 33:13”. I told Jane I was concerned that it was just “the usual “. She attended on Tuesday when a Nigerian Pastor was preaching. When she related parts of his message I was not surprised. He said things like – “Why do we (as Africans) stick to poor people. We need to be with rich people. Befriend a poor person – you will die poor. Befriend a rich person – you will die rich. ” Jane felt so bad about what He was saying that she prayed in her heart that by some miracle she would get time to talk with the pastor and confront him on his message. A miracle occurred! While Jane and her friends were waiting outside after to get a boda-boda (motorbike for hire) the pastor pulled up near them in his car and asked if they needed a lift. Jane pounced on the opportunity (much to the chagrin of her companions) and kindly asked the pastor that why we never hear about sin and repentance in relation to God’s blessing on our lives; why do we not talk about how witchcraft and our ancestral practices keep us bound in wickedness and poverty? He did not give her a solid answer – only that he felt that not all the sins of the nation would hold a Christian bound in poverty. What we see is that many people who call themselves Christians are the very ones tied up in the national practices of theft, witchcraft, and corruption. We know that many people, in the name of Christ, are making orphanages, churches and Christian schools their business—a way to attract funding from the west to provide their wants and needs. The nicest cars in Uganda are driven by the “biggest” pastors here in Uganda.

I believe God does not mind us prospering – in fact, I believe he desires it. It is one of the reasons God has sent us here – to help to see Ugandans come out of their poverty! But God always starts at the same place. Repentance. We must stop from doing things our way and start doing things his way. This is not a one-time choice. This is a daily choice. It is one of the most difficult things. We must seek first the kingdom of God. Then “all these things” will be added to us.

I believe that God wants to change us, the Sperlings, to more and more give up our selfish habits and our own way of doing things. As God changes us we believe He will use us to change others.

Right now we are praying for men and women to disciple in the work we do and just generally in the Christian walk. Of course it is not us who disciples, it is our Lord through the Holy Spirit. We desire to be used by God to facilitate the men and women and children of Uganda to hear God’s word and follow Him.

Please pray that God will lead us to the men and women He wants us to mentor and disciple.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

eight years

2010-01-12T23:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Jane and I celebrated eight years of marraige. It has been eight years of God's faithfulness -- with Jane going through 4 C-sections and a major illness after Kenny's birth. Along with trips back and forth between Canada and Uganda and the deaths in Jane's family, it has not been a very easy eight years but God has been faithful to us and has kept us faithful to Him. We praise Him for that!

We celebrated by first going out to a local restaurant for Ugandan food and then we met up with our friends, Francis and Adrienne who are still honeymooning here in Jinja -- they were celebrating 10 days of marriage! We enjoyed a romantic candlelit evening at Gately on the Nile. We had lots of laughs and exchanged stories about how some of the local tribes send relatives (such as an Aunt) to make sure things go well on the honeymoon.

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

FGW seminar

2009-12-26T08:56:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures taken during the practical part of the seminar on Tuesday when we put in our "Well Watered Garden". The seminar was put on for our church (Deliverance Church Walukuba) so that they can be envisioned about the work we will be doing in the rural churches here in Uganda through Deliverance Church.

The pictures of the soil in the glass illustrate conventional farming soil and FGW soil after 2 crops (10 months) of using FGW practices (from my garden at home). The FGW soil is the one with clear water as it holds together well because of all the various roots and organic matter that give it structure. The turbid one represents how easily regular soil slumps and is washed away by rainwater. FGW makes a difference.

Blessings Chris

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

FGW seminar

2009-12-26T08:27:00.001-08:00

Blessings Chris

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Christmas Dinner at the Prison

2009-12-18T01:13:00.001-08:00

The women were literally jumping with excitement as the guard let us into their small courtyard. Our whole team received warm, vigorous hugs as we entered. Although the courtyard walls are drab yellow with the expected barbed wire running high above where any convict could reach, the bright afternoon sun reflected off the walls and lit up the small courtyard -- adding emphasis to the joyful faces of the simply but brightly dressed prisoners. The Condemned Women wear a red-checked jumper similar to the primary school girls here in Uganda. The women were very clean; their dark shiny skin offset by their simple, bright "school-girl" uniforms as well as their multi-coloured "Bidco" sandals (cheap plastic sandals nick-named for one of the cooking oil product company that makes them.)

We had come late.Our small delegation of four other women, including Jane were in Jinja town , had been waiting most of the afternoon for a leak in my radiator to be fixed. We had spent the morning rounding up the remaining shopping items including half a sack of charcoal that we had obtained down near the Lake. It had rained earlier in the morning- making our shoes and clothes sticky with the Jinja clay but now, also making for a very clear and clean sky for the late afternoon sun to shine through.

After we had enjoyed our traditional Christmas dinner of Matooke (cooking banana), Irish potatoes, rice, meat, cabbage and ground-nuts accompanied by glass-bottle sodas, we had a brief formal time of sharing with each other. Charity, the buoyant, self-appointed representative leader of the nine death-row prisoners gave a brief speech describing how anxious they were when the appointed day for their Christmas dinner had come but their was not the usual food and charcoal brought the day before for the prisoners to prepare their meal. She described how she earnestly cried out to God -- yearning to have their Christmas Party, with the tasty food and fellowship that they long for. Then she told of the joy they all felt when they saw us, through their barred window around mid-day with all of the food and sodas they had hoped for. We had returned now, late in the afternoon, having given the women enough time to prepare the meal and thankfully, enough time for my mechanic to find and repair a major leak on my radiator. Charity finished her spontaneous speech by thanking us earnestly and said that it was the inmates prayer that our families would have a blessed Christmas and that our generosity and ministry would spread in ministry to others as well. This had now been their Christmas, she said-- they were now wishing us to have a joyous day with our families next week on the 25th.

I felt that we were the ones being blessed. The women were so thankful for something so small; yet their joy was contagious. The women enjoy our fellowship so much and their joy is evident for the duration of our time there. Yes, not all of them share the same Joy -- some have not yet accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour, some -- even the Christians still feel some sorrow, regret and condemnation for what they have done. Others are living -- even by the admission of prison staff -- as wrongly accused and convicted criminals. The work of this small team of women (and the group of men in the men's sections) is to bring the Gospel, biblical teaching and fellowship to these inmates; the teams in turn are blessed with wonderful fellowship, and the joy of leading people who can really see God's grace for what it is.

Please continue to pray for these women in Jinja Main prison. They have been given a chance for their sentences to be reduced from death to a lesser sentence so they are slowly filing through the courts in turn -- in fact four of them were not there as they had been taken to court for their hearings. Please remember these women as they struggle with their life of confinement in prison along with all the predictable but easily forgettable troubles like poor health, sleeping on hard floors, a monotonous and not-too-healthy diet, and separation from friends, family and society in general. Pray also that they will truly repent and find their forgiveness, life and hope in Christ.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Camping on Lake Victoria2

2009-12-17T13:04:00.001-08:00

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Jinja Prison

2009-12-17T11:52:00.001-08:00

Tese pics aren't the best as I was slyly taking pics with my phone to at least give you a small idea of the prison where Jane ministers from time to time.

We had the joy of having Christmas dinner with the Condemned Women's Section who are only 9 women. A number of them are Christians and we have very joyful fellowship with them. We are not allowed cameras in the prison so I only have a few shots of the outsite.

The women are very dear and were so thankful for the meal which they called "their Christmas". Boy do we have alot to learn from them!!!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

camping on Lake Victoria2

2009-12-17T11:20:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Camping on Lake Victoria2

2009-12-17T09:57:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Camping on Lake Victoria

2009-12-12T03:11:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Camping on Lake Victoria

2009-12-12T02:19:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Camping on Lake Victoria

2009-12-12T01:10:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Camping on Lake Victoria

2009-12-12T00:49:00.001-08:00

Here are some pics from a recent camping trip at a place on Lake Victoria called kingfisher Resort. i took along all of our boys except Ezra and our nephews Steve, Tugume and Koko as well our neice kayesu (payi)

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

A devotion from Today... Covetousness in the Latter Days

2009-12-11T23:17:00.001-08:00

Covetousness in the Latter Days

December 12, 2009

"And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Luke 12:15)
The sin of covetousness perhaps has been the most besetting sin of the human race since Eve, and God finally wrote it into the Decalog itself: "Thou shalt not covet" (Exodus 20:17). The apostle Paul even made the sweeping statement: "The love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). "For . . . no . . . covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (Ephesians 5:5).
In view of such warnings, the Christian should indeed greatly beware of covetousness. Nevertheless, one of the distressing characteristics predicted for the "last days" is a great increase of covetousness, even among professing Christians. "In the last days . . . men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous. . . . Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
It is sad to see so many modern "Christian" movements promoting what might be called a "prosperity cult," teaching that "gain is godliness." Stressing "positive mental attitude," "self-help," "creative visualization," and various other supposed spiritual psychotherapies, these modern false teachers and their affluent lifestyles have deluded multitudes of coveting Christians into thinking they have some sort of divine right to material prosperity.
The Greek word for "covetous," describing men of the last days (2 Timothy 3:2), is the same as that for "love of money" (1 Timothy 6:10), an undue attention to material things. It is also used (in negative form) in Hebrews 13:5, and this is the true Christian standard. "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." HMM

Print this article | More Days of Praise articles

Institute for Creation Research | 1806 Royal Lane | Dallas | TX | 75229

Powered by phplist. This email was sent to sperling_equip@yahoo.ca. To unsubscribe, change your email address, or update your subscription, please go to www.icr.org/change

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Our Christmas Letter

2009-12-08T00:18:00.001-08:00

Back in Africa

After two days of flying and a night in London we arrived back in Uganda late on Friday October 29^th. After Chris had piled 19 of our 20 pieces of baggage next to the luggage carousel (one was missing), we gathered ourselves and our porters and made our way to the arrivals door at Entebbe airport. The marble-tiled floors of the airport were no illusion to us about how life can be in Uganda. The reality of life in Uganda hit us as we drove down bumpy rural roads and then pulled up to the pitch-black Banana Village Guest House in Entebbe. There was no power. The smell of paraffin lanterns gave us their familiar welcome as we settled down for the night, tucking in our mosquito net and getting used to the clammy feeling of being back in our warm humid climate.

Settling back in

Settling back into life here has been challenging. Isaiah has been bitten by a snake (he is fine now)and our good dog Max died, possibly of rabies, less than a week after come back. Max was a good friend and guard dog and only 2 ½. Andrew and Tugume have had malaria and Jane has been suffering with stomach trouble, but all in all we are alright.

Down to Work

We are looking forward to settling into our mission work as we have now filed for work permits and done the necessary leg work to start our partnership with Deliverance Church Uganda DC(U). This will be the second time that we have partnered with them and we feel comfortable with the leadership team and their experience. DC (U) is a church that came out of the East African revival in the 70’s and just celebrated it’s 40^th anniversary. We will be travelling to rural DC(U) churches and doing Foundations For Farming (The new name for Farming God’s Way) workshops along with other such material. Our goal is to work with various communities and develop a relationship with them so we will continue to offer them training and return periodically to monitor their progress. We desire that we co-ordinate with key leaders and farmers in each church so that a long term net-work can develop through which we can train not only church members but so that local members of the community can also see God’s purpose for our lives here on earth. Foundations For Farming uses discipleship as the key model for training.

Equip Uganda?

We continue to partner with various groups here in part because Equip is a facilitating organization but also because Equip is not yet registered as an NGO in Uganda and we must thus work under another organization to be “legal” here. Please pray with us as we consider registering Equip during this next term. Registering Equip as an NGO will involve extra time and money as well as networking with local leaders to form a board that will represent Equip’s interests here in Uganda.

It is easy to forget that it is Christmas here except when you go into a mall in the city or to one of the local supermarkets here in Jinja. It is hot and has been raining quite a bit. In some way sit is good not to have all the peripheral Christmas associations around like cold weather, snow, Christmas music in the Malls and all the advertising on TV. There’s not so much to sort through to get to what Christmas is about. It is what we make it! That is probably the best way. Let us make much of Christ and all He has done for us – now and always!

Prayer Needs

Please pray for us as we settle into our work

Pray for safety in travel

Pray for our health

Pray for open hearts to God’s word

Pray for success as we train farmers

Pray that we will always be ready to share the Hope that is within us.

Financial Needs

We still need to bring our support up by about $400 CAD/month. As well we want to put on many seminars this next year at an average of twice per month at a cost of $200 CAD per seminar (this will depend based on distance). We also desire to travel to Rwanda and Burundi in the new year to put on seminars and support other friends and missionaries there. The work in Burundi is especially urgent as the country is only now just settling into a peaceful state in the last couple years. We estimate the Burundi/Rwanda trip to cost about $1000 CAD. As well we need to replace our pick-up that we sold last year with a newer, stronger one. The pick-up is used for our rural work as many locations here are very deep in the bush on poor roads. Of course the pick-up allows us to carry both things and people (we are planning on a double-cabin 4X4). Our budget for the truck is $12,000 USD (it was less but the US dollar has gone down quite a bit over the last months).

If you want to contribute to our general Support please send your cheques with a separate note: “for Sperling Support”. For the Seminars, the truck and the Ministry Trip please designate on a separate note: “for Sperling Work Fund”

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas – with fond memories of our time in Canada and great expectations for the year ahead.

Blessings and thanks to all of you for your love and care for us,

Chris and Jane,

Andrew, Tugume, Kenny, Albert, Isaiah, and Ezra

Follow us on Twitter : “@sperlings”

To donate on line go to: www.sperlingsinafrica.com

Subscribe to our blog:

www.sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

e-mail: sperling_equip@yahoo.ca

In the US donations can be sent to:

Equip, Inc.

PO Box 1126, Marion, N.C.

USA, 28752

In Canada donations can be sent to:

Equip Canada PO Box 683

Duncan B.C.

V9L 3Y1

check us out online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

pics from Auntie Anne

2009-11-26T00:12:00.001-08:00

We had a great time with Uncle Gilbert and Aunt Anne and Kerri this fall.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

A trip to the Village

2009-11-25T03:10:00.001-08:00

This last weekend we set off for Nakaseke District (it used to be part of Luweero District and the famour Luweero Triangle so we still talk about going to Luweero when we go to the village) to visit Jane's dad and to start work on building him a new round house. His traditional house had fallen down, thus necessitating a new one. We packed up family and building material (which is cheaper here in Jinja than out there). We loaded our whole family, our two young ladies who help us, Ruth and Maurine, 10 bags of cement, 12 peiece of tine roofing, nails, and our luggage. Yes we were very well-loaded!Then we added more items once we reached Luweero Town: two 50kg sacks of maize flour, one 50kg sack of rice, two bunches of matooke (cooking banana), and some vegetables and beans.

Everyone was so happy to see us! Jane's dad who we call Papa is about 67 and stands about 6'4" is a typical Tutsi with a slender, lanky build. He was resting on the veranda of the main house in the shade. The veranda on a typical house here in Uganda is not really a shade or prtch area but a footing that extends out from the base of the houe about a foot and a half and rises about a foot or so above the level of the ground surrounding the house. Janes sister Esther was near the outdoor kitchen and quickly cam over with her children to wellcome us. The kids all tried there best at greeting us in English and we exchanged greetings with Esther (Jane's sister who has been living there since 08) and Papa in Luganda and Kinyarwanda. Mama Dan, another one of Jane's siters who is staying at the homestead with her children was there too. She came over and we exchanged greetings again. Jane started to cry as this was the first time we had seen Mama Dan since they lost their 13 year old daughter a few months ago while we were away in Canada.

We began offloading our cargo with th help of the many children around. Mama Dan (Paulina) has three girls and two boys -- her oldest being Dan who is 16 and is a handsome mild-mannered young man. Esther has 5 boys and one girl -- her oldest is Kamuhanda, a hard-working boy, who is 15. Esther has stayed at the homestead since May of 2008 when she lost her husband very suddenly. Tragically she lost her oldest daughter of around 10 years just a couple months later to an unknown sickness. Mama Dan is at Papa's as her husband lost his job recently at the exact same time as their second oldest daughter of 13 died very suddenly -- that was just a few months ago. Mama Dan's husband is currently culitvating their land a few miles away in a more secluded village, meanwhile his family is staying at Papa's which is about 1km from Kiwoko where they can school and have ready access to a good hospital.

We had a good time with some light-hearted moments as Jane's siters tried out some of their little English. We were mostly there to get papa's house built so I spent a lot of my time getting things ready for the new house, while Jane was able to get a lot of good time in visiting with her sisters. The builders came on Sunday evening after I had spent the day rounding up bricks and sand so that they would be able to get going immediately after they came. We had cleared the site of the old rubble from the wattle and thatch building where papa used to stay. The kids had cleard most of the rubble from where the centre of the house was, during the time I was out with Dan rounding up material. We left Tuesday Morning after having secured material and watching the builders finish off the foundationa and start the walls.

We would love for you to continue to pray for Jane's family. Jane's sisters are living in a lot of fear, understadably, as they have faced so much death over the past few years (both having lost two family memebers since 07). There is a lot of talk about some of the deaths being a result of witchcraft -- which could be true. Please pray that they will be released from fear and that they will experience God's presence and blessing in their lives. Pray that their children will be willing to read the Bible to their moms as they are both illiterate for the most part. Pray also for God's provision of a job for George (Mama Dan's husband) and provision for Esther as well. Also pray for their health and protection but most of all please pray that they will put their faith fully in Christ for slavation and protection and provision. They are wonderful women and do not beg or complain in the least. Very easy people to help -- if only more Ugandans had their spirit!!

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Back in Uganda.

2009-11-18T04:37:00.001-08:00

We are now back on the red soil of Uganda. Not only are we adjusting to our miry clay and all the difficulties it brings to daily life but also we are adjusting to the many changes of life back in Uganda.

Our journey from Vancouver to Entebbe was a long one but all in all I think the boys fared well -- maybe better than their parents. We left Vancouver Airport on Tuesday the 27^{th around 10 pm in the evening after checking in our 19 pieces of luggage. My faithful friend Bryant was there (helping haul our luggage around as usual!)along with my brother Oliver and his two children. My dad was also there, having flown in from Saskatoon earlier that day. He drove "our" van home (our old Lumina that he bought off of us when we left in 07 – it served us very well during our stay in Canada –thanks mom and dad) the next day. We were actually accompanied on our flight to London by good friends from our Life Group, Bert and Leona Ewert, who were going to visit son and his family in the UK. We flew through the night, stayed in a small hotel in London the next night and then arrived, finally in Entebbe at a guest house around midnight on Thursday the 29th – welcomed by the typical lack of power and the scent of paraffin lanterns and the ritual of tucking in mosquito nets around our bed.}

We finally arrived at our home in Jinja about 60 long hours after we had set off. It was good to see all of our friends and family who welcomed us back. All of our luggage made it except that one piece was mistakenly taken in Entebbe by some fellow missionaries from Canada. We will collect that bag tomorrow.

We have been working on obtaining our work visas and getting our house and car in order. I (Chris) have painted one of our boys quarter rooms so that the boys will have a proper school room. The boys quarter is a small detached house that is called thus as such buildings were the quarters of servants who would work for the owners of the main house. Our nephew Steve lives with us and sleeps with Andrew in the other boy’s quarter room.

Some of our adjustments to life here include:

Getting used to long meetings – I just came back from a four hour school business meeting for one of our nieces who schools near us. The meeting was about an hour late so that meant about 5 hours of meeting time. Church also takes a while – we intentionally come late so that our kids can survive the service. Our church starts around 9am with Bible Study and Testimonies and can go up till two if the preaching goes two hours instead of the usual one hour.

There are many challenges to our life here – including the spiritual depravity in our village. Many of the people in our village where we live are in desperate need of redemption; we have many bars and therefore drunkards, many people involved in witchcraft and other wicked practices. We sense once again we are in a spiritual war zone. Satan does not want true light to come into the darkness here. Please pray that both in our ministry and in our daily lives that God will watch over us and guide as we respond and relate to the many poor and needy people around us. May we let our light shine so that our neighbours may see Christ

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Coke and Cops

2009-11-13T04:40:00.001-08:00

He flagged me down as I was approaching Jinja Train station. My attention was on the white-clad traffic officers on my right who were flagging down matatus and suspect lorries in the oncoming lane. I pulled over quickly once I noticed the officer standing just ahead of me in my own lane. I wasn't worried -- I had not been speeding and I have an up-to-date Ugandan driver's license. The Police Officer walked quickly up to my passenger window as I rolled it down.

"Good Afternnon, Sir"

"Good Afternnon" I said,

The coke can sitting in the centre console quickly caught his eye. He motioned to the can --

"What is that you have there?" his eyes lit up with the prospect of a cold soda.

I knew immediately that he was going to ask me for my Coke -- I wasn't worried...

I picked up the can, showing him it was open and as I waved it around. He noticed immediately that it was empty and quickly found something else to say.

"Let me help you throw it out"

I didn't want him to have it as I knew he would just toss it in the ditch next to the highway.

I told him I'd take care of it.

"Can I see your license?"

I quickly got out my Ugandan Drivers permit and he was satisfied after wrongly pronouncing my sirname back to me.

We said good-bye and I was left to ponder how our Police Force is so corrupt as I drove into town. I knew he was after "Kintu Kadogo" (Something small). I was within the law so his leverage was very low, but for so many overloaded taxis and run-down lorries such an officer threatens fines and imprisonment hoping that the offendor will offer him the equivelent of a dollar or two to get out of the fix. Then a few miles down the road the rundown lorrie ploughs into an overloaded taxi and it pads our statistics for annual road fatalaties! All for the price of a coke!

Our country is slowly slipping into the abiss of corrption where there is not justice even in the courts where a verdict can be bought. God help us! Pray for our Uganda! Corruption is eating at us like a rust at an old car. We're falling appart.

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Ugandan Sunday

2009-11-01T07:10:00.001-08:00

Well... we are sure we are back in the same Uganda. We have had warm wellcomes, had many visitors, near accdents, followed lorries billowing smoke, and endured long queues for daily necesseties. Today, our second full day at home in Jinja we went to church at our home Church; Deliverence Church Walukuba. We arrived at our normal time of shortly before 11am. The church normally starts at 9am but with a large family and not much for a Sunday School program we usually come after the Bible Study and Testimonies to join in worship and the message. We enjoyed the lively worship and were wellcomed to the front to greet everyone. I used 10 minutes to tell everyone that we had a great trip and to bring greetings on behalf of our church and life group. After some announcements our guest speaker was warmly wellcomed. Pastor Bishop Peter Paul Malawi was visiting from Mombassa where he has flourishing church and ministry to young people. He shared on "/Preparing
for your breakthrough". His message was very encouraging and challenging. We were challenged to see that God's grace (2Cor. 6.1) is not being poured out on us in vain. Peter Paul started his message around 12 and was done around 2pm. After the service we had many more warm wellcomes from our brethren in church. We headed into town to get some money from an ATM so we could fuel our vehicle and do some more shopping for food and household items. The first ATM had about thirty people at it, the second one on the other side of town had no money (which hadn't suprised me -- there is usaully areason why the machine is so busy). we drove back to the first ATM on main street and after pending a minute in line I decided i did not want to spend the next hour or so in a queue I decided to drive the family across the river (Nile) to another less-used ATM in front of the Breweries. We hit a traffic jam on the usually not-too-long of a drive over to
Njeru. After a few more minutes in the hot sun in the traffic jam and a few more in another ATM queue we finally got some money to put some diesel in our now empty tank. We stopped to buy some matooke on the home in Bugembe meanwhile dad had a coke and the boys enjoyed some icecream after a long wait for our currency. We were finally home to have lunch and find some more visitors waiting to see us. Just another Sunday in Uganda...

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

back in Uganda

2009-10-31T03:16:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends,

We are safe and sound back in Uganda. Here we are in the usual routine again...

Chris sweating (yeah it's hot in here!)it out in the internet cafe while Jane shops for family needs at the market. I have to be quick as I may get in trouble with Jane if I take too long to go pick her up. It is nice to be remembered (and warmly well comed back)by our many friends around town as we do our errands. It was even greater coming back home to our nephews Steven and Tugume and our friend Ruth who lives and works for us. They were SO happy to see us. They had even made a ribbon across our carport entrance for us to cut (I forgot my camera in Canada so no pics right now). There were nice handwritten signs made through out the house well-coming us home (towels and bedsheets on our bed had been folded to form a well-come greeting) and our yard was in impeccable condition and all the plants and grass had grown A LOT!

What a blessing it is to come back HOME. Despite the many difficulties we face in daily life here we really feel this is home.

Please continue to pray for us as we settle back in.

Prayer items are:

1. For our safety as we travel around doing all that we need to do here.

2. For Work visas for both Chris and Jane (since Jane is now a foreigner she needs some sort of visa too)

3. Pray that God would go ahead of us as we start our work again here.

Blessings to you all,

Chris

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

My beautiful wife, Jane

2009-10-14T00:43:00.001-07:00

Jane a few years ago in Vernon at Davidson Orchard

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Grandma Sperling

2009-10-14T00:21:00.001-07:00

My dear Grandma Sperling died at the age of 92 back in 2006. We dearly loved her and still miss her -- Jane especially as they had become great friends.

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

new old pics

2009-10-14T00:03:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics of my beautiful wife Jane back in @2004. Compare them to the ones recently(Sept 09) at the same place -- Davidson Orchards in Kelowna.

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

The Antidote for Worry

2009-10-11T08:18:00.001-07:00

Philippians 4:4-9

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

The antidote for our worries and also for our habit of worrying is to:

1) Rejoice in the Lord -- God wants us to be choose to be happy and satisfied with who He is for us.
2) Tell God what we need in prayer -- God wants us to be honest with Him about what we need. The Bible clearly tells us that every good thing is from God, it also tells us that we rely on God for our very breath. We also rely on God for forgiveness. God loves to hear our requests and for us to admitt that we need Him. Realizing our need puts us in the humble position of realizing our dependance on God. God loves to meet our needs! He is all we need!
3) As we pray about what we need, give thanks to Him -- We should pray; thankful and mindful of what He has already done. This will help us to be expectant of Him to to so much more in the future.
4) Think about good things as (defined by verse Phil 4:8 )

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Our mind needs to be clean if we don't want worry and doubt to overwhelm us.

Of course this is an ongoing process. We need to make it a habit to be thankful, to rejoice and to think about good good things. We need His continued help and strength to even seek Him.
Lord come and help us to draw near to you so that we will recieve all we need from you for life. You are our Life. You have the words of eternal life -- where else can we go.

As we follow God's recipe for the "Antidote for Worry" we will see that the peace of God will gaurd our hearts and minds and the peace of God will be with us. What more could we want!

I know that we all would love God's peace to surround us. Having God's Peace means living God's Way. So often we may focus on our outward behaviour but God wants us to start by filtering what goes through our heart and mind; the very source of our behaviour and the centre of who we are.

God bless you as you seek His peace and may you find many reasons to thankful to our Heavenly Father this season and always.

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Thanksgiving snow!

2009-10-10T19:17:00.001-07:00

We had some snow this thanksgiving weekend and the boys got to go sledding. They got their wish of snow before we left for Uganda!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Thanksgiving snow!

2009-10-10T19:08:00.001-07:00

We've had enough for the boys to get some toboganning in. It's an answer to prayer for them. They had really wanted to get some snow before we left!

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

winter already

2009-10-09T15:39:00.001-07:00

We're in Saskatchewan for Thanksgiving. We've got snow already -- the boys went out in the cold blowing weather and enjoyed themselves despite being underdressed.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

witchcraft

2009-10-09T15:13:00.001-07:00

The following stories are reported in the major Newspapers in Uganda occasionally but are rampant in daily life around Uganda. Please pray for Uganda and it's leaders to repent and stop using witchcraft as a solution for their problems. Satan always asks for more than he's giving when you get into making deals with him. see the following stories Also pray for our protection as a family as we continue our work around Uganda

Woman killed in Nakaseke

Friday, 9th October, 2009

E-mail article

Print article

By Fredrick Kiwanu

A 20-year-old woman was on Monday found dead at a witchdoctor’s home in Nakaseke district where she had gone for ‘treatment’.

Gertrude Namata’s throat was slit and the body left near the witchdoctor’s house in Kiwoko, where she had been taken three days earlier.

The Police arrested the witchdoctor, Ahmed Nsereko, 45. However, he claims the victim killed herself in a moment of insanity.

The victim’s mother, Cecilia Nakiwu, said she took her daughter to the witchdoctor after she suffered a mild mental illness. She parted with sh160,000 to ‘cleanse’ her after the witchdoctor claimed that Namata was being bewitched.

Nakiwu narrated that on the third day of the treatment, the witchdoctor ordered her and other relatives to leave on the orders of the spirits. After the witchdoctor was arrested, a mob unsuccessfully tried to lynch him.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/697357

12-year-old boy beheaded in ritual murder

Friday, 9th October, 2009

E-mail article

Print article

A 12-year-old boy was beheaded on Wednesday at around 11:00am in Salute village. The officer in-charge of Kamwenge Police Station, Raymond Onenchan, identified the deceased as Owen Gumusiriza, a Primary Four pupil at Railway Primary School.

The Police suspects it was a ritual murder. Onenchan said that this was the first such incident in Kamwenge.

Robert Barugahare, the deceased’s father, said he had left the boy at home preparing porridge for breakfast, while he and his wife went to dig in a nearby garden.

An eye witness, said some body parts, including the tongue and kidneys were missing.

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/697359

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

global warming due to global brain freeze

2009-10-05T17:17:00.001-07:00

"I get exasperated with fellow academics, and others who ought to know better, who pile on to the supposed global warming consensus without bothering to investigate any of the glaring scientific discrepancies and procedural flaws. Over the coming few years, as the costs of global warming policies mount and the evidence of a crisis continues to collapse, perhaps it will become socially permissible for people to start thinking for themselves again. In the meantime I am grateful for those few independent thinkers, like Steve McIntyre, who continue to ask the right questions and insist on scientific standards of openness and transparency." from the Financial Post for more of this article http://tinyurl.com/yc486na

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Western Canada Trip

2009-10-05T16:26:00.001-07:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from The Sperling's blog

Okanagan Trip

2009-10-05T12:04:00.001-07:00

We recently were in the Okanagan sharing in Vernon Christian Fellowship and then having some time with our family friend Kathy Malone. Here are some pics from our time there.

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

Skulls and Flames

2009-09-28T21:35:00.001-07:00

It is very interesting when we learn a bit about what the Bible teaches us on the subject of the devil and how he works. He is called both a robber and a thief. He is definitely both -- but these are not the same words -- neither do they involve similar strategies. Living in Africa has shown me that Satan is a robber; he tries to violently remove from us both our physical and spiritual possessions. A robber uses violence to get his job done. He is confident that his use of force will get the job done. Think of a highway robber -- he is usually armed to the teeth to outduel the stagecoach or the armoured car. in Uganda we see witchcraft, poverty, and death all staring us and taunting us to our face. In Uganda we face continual agressive attempts to remove our faith, hope and joy through Satans's fear campaign.
I find that Satan's technique in the west, where we are "developed", is one of thievery. Our enemy uses tricks like over-exosure,deception and mindgames to slowly turn up that the heat under our cauldren of self-indulgence. Interesting how common symbols of death and hell have become very commonplace on our clothing, vehicles and coffee mugs. We seem to be in love with skulls,bones and flames! Cool or Crazy?? How abzurd that we love the symbols of death and hell! We are now coming to a season when we celebrate death and evil! We think ghosts and gobblins are a joke -- we think hell is a joke!! Satan is decieving us to death. Just because we see flames and skulls in the most ordinary of places every day doesn't make hell cease to exist nor does it keep the devil off our back. The demons and witchdoctors in Uganda are agents of the devil; so are t-shirt shops and media companies in Canada. The reality is Satan wants our soul -- wether he gets it by thievery or robbery makes no difference to him. The scariest place is not in a witchdoctors hut, nor in a haunted house--the scariest place is a soul without Jesus - a soul bound for hell!
The wonderful thing is that while we have life and breath we can turn to God and ask Him to come and chase out all the evil that has bound us so tightly! His wonderful life and light will then fill us!

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

joy or fun

2009-09-22T11:25:00.001-07:00

It seems our western worls is in constant pursuit of fun. Fun seems to only last as long as an event. We often say "that was fun!" admitting that the fun only lasted as long as a given event. But as children of God we can say
"I have joy, I am joyful" even despite difficult circumstances or events that cross our paths. May you find joy in Christ today!!

Joy Is Better than Fun

by Henry Morris, Ph.D.

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." (Jeremiah 15:16)

People today seem always to be looking for fun or entertainment, but it is significant that "fun" is never mentioned in the Bible, so it is evidently not considered to be a very significant part of the Christian life. The word "entertain" is used to speak of hospitality, and such activities as "play" and "reveling" only receive condemnation. ("Playing" is appropriate for children and animals, of course.)

Christians, however, have something far better than worldly fun--they have heavenly joy! This is the unique privilege of the redeemed, and there are many channels through which this joy can be experienced.

First of all, Christian joy comes through the Word. As even Jeremiah ("the weeping prophet!") could say: "Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart," as in our text. Then we rejoice in God’s great salvation: "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation" (Isaiah 61:10).

There is great joy also in the privilege of prayer and having our prayers answered: "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). Christian service and witnessing is a source of tremendous joy when its fruits are finally seen. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 126:5-6).

And there is much, much more! "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). After all, we know personally the very Creator of all that is good, "in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8). HMM

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

fun and joy (a devotional)

2009-09-22T10:57:00.001-07:00

Joy Is Better than Fun

September 21, 2009

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts." (Jeremiah 15:16)

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

Talking to Little Kids about Big Problems

2009-09-16T16:22:00.001-07:00

Today I took the assembly at King Road Traditional School in Abbotsford. It was lots of fun -- I basically did a slide show that I narrated as I went. I made comments about the pictures and tried to help the kids understand life for children their age in Uganda.

I wonder what kids think when the see someone their age going to school with no shoes on and a bloated stomach -- or fetching water in big jerry-cans?? Or what do they think when you tell them that there are no taps - or that you have to kill snakes so that they don't kill you??. I think it is hard to register. I suppose that a lot of this never hits home for many people until they are adults and they witness a third world country in person where poverty, death, disease and malnutrition stare at you every day as you roam the dirt roads of any given village in such a place as Uganda.

In Abbotsford, we too have malnourished people, some with very bad shoes, many with no home or only a cardboard box to shelter them from the elements. They also don't have their own tap to turn on and take a hot bath.

The suffering world around us are victims of sin -- their own sin and others sin all wrapped up into one complicated mess.We too, except for God's providence in our lives could be out on a street, down on our luck, or left to starve in a sun-scorched, war-torn land.

Our goal is not to alleviate all suffering nor to fill every need -- our goal is to show people and tell people about Christ. He can remove our guilty stains, fill our spiritual hunger and quench our eternal thirst. The physical needs are the pathway to the human need for forgiveness and atonement; the need to be in a good relationship with God. We can tolerate much physical suffering when we know our soul is secure. And, interestingly enough, secure souls tend to make more decisions that lead to less physical suffering.

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

On Tour

2009-09-16T15:58:00.001-07:00

On Friday morning we start off on our speaking tour of Western Canada. We will start in the Okanagan and work our way up through Prince Georga and then to Ceceil lake, which is near Fort St. John. After speaking in Cecil Lake we will travel down through Edmonton and on to Dalmeny, SK. We will stay there a few nights and visit some of my dad's brothers and their families(they are all --4 of them -- in Saskatchewan now -- the sister -all f of them-- are living in BC). After Dalemny we head down to Lucky Lake where we will speak in Beechy as well as Prairie Centre as well as Lucky Lake itself.

It will be so good to see so many friends and family that we have not seen in a few years. The boys are mostly old enough to now remember and enjoy this trip. Jane has a bit of a hard time with staying with people as we always have to be worried if we are doing the right thing in someone elses home. Most of our friends and family that we will stay with are pretty relaxed so I don't think it should be too bad.

We just had a weekend in Courtneay, BC which was quite good and we made a good connection with Courtenay Fellowship Baptist Church. We're thankful for our friends George and Sharon Henly who helped to connect us to their church. We found the congregation to be quite warm and down to earth. It's interesting that the further you go from the city the more time people seem to have and the more friendly they seem to be. I guess I'm a "country people" at heart. Andre Crouch has an old song called "God Love Country People". Perhaps that's another reason I love the farmers of Uganda.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

a perspective on the curretn Kamapal Violence

2009-09-11T20:44:00.001-07:00

Below is some communication forwarded to me by a friend whose dad is currently in Uganda on a missions trip. I think he has a pretty good handle on a lot of the issues at hand. The writer Ron, is a friend of my friend's dad -- more importantly, a fellow believer, so I think his perspective is very good as well as his general knowledge of the political and social landscape there in Uganda

Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009

This report is a bit lengthy but is written to give you non media perspective and understanding about what is going on here at the moment. If you are pressed for time just hit the RED "X"
Varying reports are coming from the four corners here this morning. Anti government media sources report things worse than they are and pro government media underplays things so somewhere in the middle is the actual situation. The streets downtown are mainly quiet as most businesses have remained closed and police have a heavy presence. News media are advising/ordering all foreigners and expats to stay at home today which is logical given the
dynamics at work at the moment. As far as I know, all foreigners are safe and have not been attacked. We live in the southern part of the city and it is peaceful here so far. I spoke with a Police friend this morning and he told me that the intelligence has been at work and the police
will be getting the bad guys soon. He also said that the eastern side of trhe city will be intense today as the melee moves out toward the town of Mukono then on to Kayunga where the Kabaka (Bugandan king) is supposed to be addressing the Youth Celebration. He said the fight will end in Kayunga tomorrow. Kayunga is 40 kms out of Kampala. The President went on the air last night and laid out certain criteria for the event if it is to continue. Make no mistake, this is a planned and orchestrated event to cast a bad light on the government and personally on President Museveni. Trying to grasp all the issues is not possible but this is a confrontation between the tribal king of the largest ethnic group in Uganda and a President, both asserting their dominant positions. The tribal king is a man who actively practices and consorts with demons and withcraft. His nice suit will fool the Western mindset. The real issue being revealed here at least in my view is this...

Without a vision people perish. Uganda is a nation of young people, the median age of a Ugandan being 14 years 6 months. Very high unemployment, a lot of illiteracy and uneducated youth with no job, nothing to do, no purpose in life, no direction to focus their energy, and you have a large group of the population who are very easily manipulated into violence and mayhem. This would be like "party time" for a large portion of them who are
uneducated as to the political motivations for this issue and who, frankly, could even care less. Protesting the government and the President is not a justification to loot and pillage innocent business people and burn their stores. Last night they stopped buses on the highway into town and beat and robbed the passengers. Lots of stories are emerging about the mayhem that is completely not germaine to the political situation at hand but I think the police will be getting stronger control on these things as the day progresses.

While it is difficult to agree with all the Presidents actions and philosophies, he is trying to steer the country in a positive direction and has moved Uganda a very long way towards a stable free market economy. There is freedom of the press unlikey matched anywhere else in Africa. The move towards a democratic society is well underway. Only the naive think that democracy should have happened overnight. At this juncture in the history of Uganda, he is by far the right man to be President and has a clear and deep understanding of globalism, economics, democracy, and the pursuit of being a nation free from Western support and becoming a nation controlling its own destiny is his dream. Oppositon elements cant understand that and cannot articulate any clear vision that would make them more desirable to be the government. So their methodology is to create violence and fear and intimidation, using the youth and their unfocussed energies to achieve the bent and twisted aims of the manipulators. Pray for the peace and welare of Kampala and for the youth that are misguided and misdirected in their life. They really need Christ to give them purpose. In reality,this event is only a blip on the spiritual radar screen. We continue to believe that Almighty God has plans far beyond the lower human understanding for this nation and we see a massive revival coming. Uganda holds a pivotal position in the spiritual warfare over Africa and this skirmish
is powers of darkness coming against the authority and rule of Christ in Uganda. Last we checked..........mr. d lost seriously. he is a completely defeated foe of the Kingdom of God but knows what the stakes are in Uganda. We sense Uganda is about to be the focal point of a spiritual revival of immense proportions that will have global effects, not just national or even regional.

There has been a corruption of many top leadres in the born again movement here that is of spiritual significance. We believe that even as there is an exposure of the rot in the status quo leaders, there is also a deep cleansing and repentance occuring as well. New leaders are arising and taking the baton with renewed determination to walk uprightly before God.This is one of the most praying nations in Africa if not the world and the Body of Christ is being reinvigorated to unprecedented prayer for Uganda and Africa. These prayers are stirring hell and inviting Heaven and the reaction to prayer is now being seen in these riots. But riots will not prevail nor become the trademark. Before peace can be achieved, a battle must take place and that is exactly what is happening.

Many of our friends are concerned about our welfare. We are fine and very safe and thank you for your care for us.

Hope this helps you to understand the underlying issues a little better and helps you to know how to focus your prayers for the situation at hand.

Ron

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

a perspective on the current Ugandan violence

2009-09-11T20:32:00.001-07:00

check us out or donate online at:

sperlingsinafrica.com

subscribe to the Sperling's blog:

sperlingsinafrica.posterous.com

Posted via email from Chris's posterous

background to Uganda Violence

2009-09-11T09:28:00.001-07:00

This weekend the leader of the Kingdom of Buganda is planning his annual visit to Kayunga District against the wishes of the central government. The disagreement has resulted in a stand-off which appears to be fueling long-standing grievances between the Kingdom of Buganda and the central government, and between different political factions within the kingdom. The Central Government has said that it did not want to let the proposed visit go ahead because of disagreements and threats of violence on the ground between the Banyala and Baganda in Kayunga District. The Banyala and Baluli have sought to secede from the Kingdom of Buganda now for some time. It is rumours that the main leader of the Buganda Parliament was arrested while going to prepare for the meeting in Kayunga that set off the riots in Kamapaa (which is in Buanda and obviously home to Baganda). The Baganda radio station (CBS) has been accused of inciting the Baganda agianst Police and government very openly on the radio. As of the afternoon of September 10^th, 2009, violent protests are occurring in downtown Kampala as a result of this situation in Buganda .

By the way, much of our work (the Sperlings under OKM) in the last few years was done at the south end of Kayunga District so pray that our Ugandan friends will be safe there.

(this post is a combination of Chris's writing and an e-mail forwarded from the US government to it's citzens in Uganda)

Posted via email from Chris's posterous