East Africa Trip

 

East Africa Trip Above: training of trainers on Monday before we head out to train at IFM Uganda. Below: half of my "Riverside" team heading to Bujagali for outreach. We took two boats over each morning and back in the evening I've just got back from more than three weeks in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. Thanks so much for your prayers -- I could sense God's peace and hand on my time in Africa. I had a great time in each country connecting with many great trainers and farmers alike! My goal was to continue to cultivate relationships and grow new ones for the purpose of spreading the Good News through Farming God's Way in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. First off was a week in Uganda devoted to In Field Mentoring where trainers from all over the world gathered to reach out to three local communities, meanwhile developing our trainers "in the field" as they teach the rural farmers. It was great to meet old friends and make new ones in the great Farming God's Way family. Southern, Western and Eastern Africa were represented as well as North and Central America -- it's amazing to meet people who are reaching people all over the world! I was in charge of a team in a community called Bujagali which is actually one of our own communities where Isaac works - Isaac did a great job of getting our community ready. Our outreach coincided with a celebration of witchcraft in the same village -- it was a spiritual battle but we know Who is winning! Pray for these people in Bujagali who are captive to evil spirits and jealousy. Pray for our farmers to implement with courage and to share their knowledge with their neighbours. We already have a number of farmers who have seen the great difference following God's ways makes! One young man has enough (dry) beans to feed his family for a whole year! Each day of our outreach started with a nice peaceful boat ride across the Nile to our site. I really enjoyed getting to know our team over the week! At the end of the week we were able to accredit 5 new trainers; Jesse, working in Central Uganda, Deo working in Western Uganda and DR Congo, Paul working in Liberia and Nicaragua, Denis working in Central Uganda as well as Joel working in East and Central Uganda. These are the most accredited trainers that we have ever had at an In Field Mentoring event. This is a testament to the great work done by Klint and the rest of the Uganda team! Exciting times -- we can't wait to see how things will unfold in the future! We were able to see 14 people come to the Lord during the week! Pray that these people will carefully tend to the seed of the gospel and grow in their faith. While in Uganda, I was able to see Tugume and Andrew which was good! Tugume is busy at second-year university and Andrew continues to work in Kampala. I also spent my last day in Uganda with my good friend Bill who is reaching out to DR Congo. It was good to have time together like we used to when we both lived in Jinja. He dropped me at the airport in Entebbe where I left for Rwanda six hours late, after a cancelled flight.

Uganda Top: Jesse giving a practical lesson to students Middle: Praying before we make our "Well Watered Garden" Bottom: Our ministry team "Riverside" amazing group of people! I was really looking forward to the Rwanda part of the trip. I feel quite at home in Rwanda which I think is a product of Jane being Rwandan, having family there combined with the more orderly way of life. Also, the roads are good, there is almost no garbage anywhere and they drive on the right so I feel like there are some similarities with Canada. I can understand much of the language but have never been really good at speaking as all of my Rwandan relatives can speak Luganda. I was also looking forward to engaging with Peter and Venuste who are great men whom I first met in 2019 at a previous Uganda IFM. Together with Peter and Venuste, we organized a national training in Nyamata, a town just east of the capital Kigali. Peter and Venuste have been working with ATN, a local NGO, for a number of years teaching their communities Farming God's Way and putting it into practice themselves with astounding success! These guys have so much potential! Their impact on their communities can be easily seen in tangible ways! With ATN's help, we put on a three-day workshop in Nyamata which had over 50 people in attendance! A great turnout -- including the local agriculture agent. People from all over the country came, including some Buruindians sent by my childhood pastor Ray Bale who has worked in Burundi and DR Congo for many years. After the second day, I was able to visit a few nearby farmers whom Peter works with and then after the third day, I drove with Venuste all the way to the southern part of the country to stay with him for a couple of days and visit his family and a few of his farmers. Farmer follow-up is one of my favourite things to do -- we were able to witness amazing changes in people's lives as they worked faithfully implementing Farming God's Way. One man, Anaclet, who is a government teacher is getting more from his tree tomato plot each week than he gets from his government teaching job per month! That doesn't even take into consideration that he has enough food for his family from planting maize and beans and cassava! These Rwandan farmers under Peter and Venuste have very quickly moved from attaining food security to economic freedom in a matter of 3-4 years! Another lady, Betty, testified that she went from weighing 50kg as a poor and stressed out conventional farmer to now weighing a contented and healthy 80 kg after switching to Farming God's Way with her husband Philipe. These people are so eager to share Christ and their new-found path to prosperity with their village friends despite jealousy and theft from their fields. They have gone from being despised and overlooked for their poverty to being people who are sought after for their knowledge. One of the reasons these people do so well is that Peter and Venuste are such inspiring examples themselves! Please pray that this marvellous work in Rwanda will continue. My time in Rwanda solidified my relationship with Peter and Venuste and ATN's leaders and thus we look forward to growing a great training and trainer development network in Rwanda through our established connections Another bonus to my time in Rwanda was meeting my newest niece Precious Kalera who was born while I was there ! What a great time seeing friends and family and growing our Farming God's Way network there!

Rwanda Top: Peter training in the garden Middle top: With one of our farmers husking her maize crop -- what joy! Middle bottom: Phillipe with his well-mulched maize plot Bottom: Pastor Anaclet with his tree tomato crop and coco yams

My last stop on my trip was a stop in Kenya for almost a week to help run the first Kenya National Training in some time. There has been a lot of Farming God's Way activity there over the last 15 years or so but we needed to consolidate our network and bring new life to the existing relationships. Kenya is in great hands with a great team of trainers and implementors; the goal now is to make these relationships strong and intentional with a move towards coordinated training and follow-up. Antony and Griffin were able to join me for the training with Antony having done a massive amount of work to get the workshop organized. Thanks to Karen Community Church for hosting us so well! We had over 70 people in attendance which was a great way to start off this new era in Kenya! With people coming from all over the country we look forward to great reports of God's Kingdom advancing. Thanks, everyone for your prayers and financial support for our work. I'm hoping such strategic trips will be the norm going forward. Your faithful prayers and giving really make our work possible.

Kenya Top: Learning about teren ropes with Griffin Top middle: some well-dressed farmers learning in the Well Watered Garden Bottom middle: Griffin teaching in the garden Bottom: Prayer: the foundation of humility -- where it all begins! We continue to need your financial support, your prayers and even your moral support! A donation, a prayer or an email with an encouraging word go a long way to extending the work we do! Thanks so much!

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Seed; food for today and hope for tomorrow.

Seed is pretty basic to life. Most of our food comes from eating seed. A vast majority of the world eats the seeds of wheat, rice, corn, and beans! Plus, almost all food is planted from seed. So it would go without saying that whoever controls the seed would control the people who plant and eat the seed. Seed is a powerful commodity but God's plan is to keep it in the hands of every farmer for all generations. Seed provides food for today and hope for tomorrow.


I believe that God's original plan is for us to each be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 9:7). We are each given work to do that is supposed to help to contribute to being part of this world, by God's design, where we are an integral part of fruitfulness and multiplication. This plan of bounty leads to a wonderful life where plants bring visual beauty to our senses and tasty nourishment to our bodies (Genesis 2:9). God gave these seed-bearing plants to bear seed after their kind so that mankind could keep enjoying beauty and an abundance of tasty food until the end of time. This ideal system that God has intended and designed for mankind is simply stated in Isaiah 55:10-11a

As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:


Sweet corn seed being saved for the next season at our home in Uganda

When we look at a cob of corn or a pod of beans what do we see? In our "modern" western world most of us just see food. For millennia farmers have seen both the food for today and seed for tomorrow when they look at a head of grain or a pod of beans -- such is God's provision! In one cob he provides both our needs for today and the plan for tomorrow. That plan is called seed! God always puts the plan in place before the need is present -- God planned to send His Son long before He was needed as a perfect sacrifice. God put the seed in the cob long before the hunger pangs of next season would arrive. However, in our own human wisdom, couched in vices like greed, we often distort this plan in order to make control people to suit our own ends. Sin puts God's plan aside and, in our human pride, we replace it with what we think is best. This prideful replacement ends up being to our peril.

Sweet corn grown from our own seed in Uganda. Almost all sweet corn is hybrid and therefore difficult to save seed for upcoming seasons.

As we work with the rural farmers of Africa we see how they are being sold Satan's lies. "My seed is not good enough", "My soil is not good enough", "My tools are not good enough". These are all typical lies that call into question God's love, care, and plan for his creatures. As missionaries and development workers, we may be tempted to believe these lies and forget the sufficiency of God's plan which is already in place. If we believe these lies, we will only lead our people to more and varied dependency-based programs and systems. However, when we teach our farmers about God's all-sufficiency, we remind them that what they have is enough; their open-pollinated true-to-type seed is enough, their land is enough, their hand hoe is enough. They don't need loans and handouts. They don't need tractors, expensive fertilizers and hybrid seed -- they need to learn and live by God's original plan. To roll out this message of hope we need believers who understand and also live by God's plan to lead these people out of dependency on manmade solutions and into the bounty of God's ways! This is not a financially intensive or elaborate plan but a relationally dynamic and assiduous process of showing people the better way of living.

Isaac, our Ugandan Junior trainer, harvesting a cob of dry maize used to make the maize flour -- an African staple. 

Isaac showing some demo plots to local farmers. Training farmers in God's ways is the key to helping them to come out of the dependency syndrome. We teach them that what they have in their hand is sufficient to provide the bounty that scripture talks about. What they need is to learn to be faithful with what God has already given them. 

Governments and companies are eagerly running to gain territory in the developing world where they can use their control of seed to manipulate votes and economies, gaining the satanic goals of worldly power and prestige. Seed was not meant to be a power-leveraging tool but to be an ever-present item in every farming home as a source of food both for current and upcoming seasons.

In North America it is often illegal to replant seed or to use the seed for your own on-farm seed improvement programs. It is also very difficult to keep seed since most seed is hybrid and does not keep to the biblical "true to type" principles. I'm not saying it is wrong to plant hybrids but it is very dangerous when a whole society leaves the well-being of their agriculture in the hands of seed companies and not in the hands of it's farmers as it used to be for generations untold.

With good seed, the future is "in your hands". Chris and Isaac hold a beautiful cob of open-pollinated maize. In this large cob is a good harvest of food and good seed to start the next season! 

As we seek to help people, let's remember that God already has a plan and we only need to help people find it. It's important to avoid man-made solutions where the ruts of dependency syndromes are only deepened and the bounty and beauty that God intended for each member of society are held only by an elite few. The solution is not to rip wealth away from those who already have it but to encourage all to provide lasting solutions to those who don't. God loves the poor and has a plan for them to discover the abundant life that is in Christ! An amazing part of that plan is seed and it is compared to the most amazing part of His plan -- His Word!

The Parable of the Sower
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:


“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:


“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

What on earth is "Home Assignment"?

I’m not sure what my Christian brethren think of when they hear that a missionary is on “Home Assignment”. Many people are unfamiliar with what a modern-day Christian missionary does on the field and may even wonder what on earth they do on “home assignment”. Maybe they just get to put their feet up and rest for a bit? Maby they think it’s the missionary’s holiday? Maybe missionaries work for three years and then take off six months? The questions may be many but I’ll try to explain what a home assignment means for us. I think it will mirror what other missionaries do in some ways and in other ways it may be different.

Feeling at home under the Maple Tree

Well, I guess if I am to explain what we do on Home Assignment I should explain why we do have Home Assignment. Our family normally spends about three years serving in Uganda and then comes back to Canada for half a year to a year. Canada is our sending country and Abbotsford is our home town where ouor home church is that we are sent from. The word “home” can be confusing for us -- since we have a church and relatives in Uganda it is also called home. Our home in terms of our mission work has mostly to do with our sending church and sending agency and financial and prayer supporters being (mostly) from Canada. So, Canada is our base where we are sent from. This means that we are sent out from Canada to Uganda to do Kingdom work and return to Canada to report and gain support for that work.

Family time travelling together.
Lots of great adventures!

People invest thousands of dollars in the work we do and I’m sure thousands of hours (collectively) in prayer for us and the people we serve in Uganda. This is an investment in the Kingdom of God. Our friends are using earthly wealth for heavenly work. I believe firmly that our supporters, just like investors in a gold mine, let’s say, deserve a report on how the work they invest in and care about is going. We send quarterly newsletters and post on social media from Uganda but that’s not the same as a personal report where investors can look you in the eye and ask tough questions.

Canadians support us -- we support Canada with red hoodies!

One of the main reasons we come back on Home Assignment is to give a report on our work. We meet with people in formal and informal settings, giving them a personal account of our last three years. People are free to ask questions about any aspect of our work that they like. This provides needed accountability but I think, most importantly, it provides great details for effective prayer by people who labour on their knees on our behalf. Our family will travel close to 10,000km visiting churches, friends and supporters in western Canada this year; this effort to meet supporters in person is part of building a family of people who care deeply about building God’s kingdom through the work we do. I know many people are called to work hard and earn money to invest in the Kingdom and they depend on people like us to leverage that money into Kingdom work.

A picture with one of our faithful supporters on Vancouver Island

Secondly, the purpose of our Home Assignment is for rest and family time. Our home in Uganda is a very busy place with lots of visitors. We would have it no other way! We also spend a lot of time giving to people spiritually. This means we often get emotianally a bit worn down. We are also under a lot of spiritual attack in Uganda as the enemy does not like his ground being taken from him. In order to recuperate we intentionally try to block off chunks of time here in Canada to have family time that builds us spiritually. The mere fact that there is only our core family members around the dinner table here in Canada is a major benefit to our family’s health. Long hours of travelling together and experiencing Canada together are sometimes trying but really do help to build a great bond as we experience God’s goodness to us as a family. When we receive a new member on our support team or stay in the home of a generous family the children all get to see God’s faithfulness to us through His people. We will go on walks and hikes together, travel together, grocery shop together, play together, eat together and pray and read God’s Word together. We need this time to bond tightly as a family unit. We need this time to build our physical and spiritual strength for the term of work ahead and to recover from the challenges in the term past.

We love Sweet potato fries and Chipotle at White Spot!

Thirdly, the purpose of our home visit is to get the children caught up with Canadian education standards. Most missionary families struggle with education options on the field. Many missionaries have to leave the mission field early because they have run out of options for their children’s education. We got behind last year as we had gone a full school year without a volunteer teacher (most missionaries rely on volunteer help around the home to help with child care and/or education) to help with the children’s distance learning. Now that we’re back in Canada, we will spend time getting the kids back on track with their Canadian education while we are here. This allows them to stay on track with their post-secondary education options here. The level of education in African universities is very low and the system is still stuck in learning by rote and critical thinking is not a skill developed in the education systems there. This means our children will be looking to finish high school with the Canadian high school system. In order to do this we take time to put them in local schools and meet with local educators.

The fourth reason for Home Assignment that I’ll mention here is connected to education. We desire that our children, all of them Canadians, be able to navigate Canadian culture when they leave our home. They will need to be familiar with Canadian culture and nuances to help them be successful in life in Canada in the future -- whether they just live there a few years or the rest of their lives. Time in Canada allows them to see many aspects of Canada with our guidance as parents on how to view and handle the post-Christian culture of Canada with a biblical world view.

Our supporters have lots of character!

The last reason (that I’ll mention here) that we come to Canada is to widen our prayer and financial support base. Our family needs continue to grow with larger teenage appetites and increased costs of educating them. Living costs and airfares continue to climb. In addition, our work continues to grow with a larger scope and more influence both in Uganda and in Africa at large. Unlike most people a missionary can’t put in overtime to meet some extra needs or pay for unexpected bills. We rely on the generosity of others to live and work! So, we spend a lot of our time trying to connect with new people so as to widen our support family. Team building is an essential part to our Home Assignment.

*for more info on our work visit us at www.sperlingsinafrica.com

Drought? What Drought?

Lately much of Uganda and even much of Africa has experienced drought in the last growing season. In fact, the food security problem in Africa is so bad that the FAO's current list of " 37 Country's in need of external food assistance", 30 of the 37 countries are in Africa.  This inclement weather has left many farmers with withered crops and empty store rooms. Of course empty store rooms means hard times ahead; famine. This is going to be a rough season for many people in the coming months with very little from their fields to feed them.  Of course, this will also mean appeals for aid and food handouts to sustain these farmers until the next crops come in. Here we go again… the begging bowl of Africa back on the TV screens and now Facebook posts pleading for help. But it doesn’t need to be like this! In fact for our Farming God's Way farmers across the continent it isn't like this.

Throughout Uganda farmers were hit with a late onset of rains, (our rains normally come with the Equinox around mid march but  came this year around April 1st) which meant late planting and then very heavy rains in the middle of the season and then the rains stopped as the crops were maturing. This spells bad news for the average farmers but our farmers are not average farmers! They are average people with the average tools (hoes and machetes) who are farming God's way! Farming God's Way teaches farmers to mulch as heavily as possibly on as much of their land as possible. This means when it is raining heavily their land absorbs the rain deep into the soil profile. Then, when the sun starts to shine the mulch protects the moisture from evaporation and keeps the soil and plant roots nice and cool; perfect conditions for growth! The result is great crops despite weeks of drought. This means food on the table and food in the store rooms. It also means Africans shouting God's goodness and not begging for more hand-outs! Which one do you like to hear about?

On the left is a conventional plot and on the right a Farming God's Way plot; same sun, same rainfall from this last "drought" season -- one looks like a drought stricken garden and one looks like a well watered garden. The difference is faithfulness with the talents God has given us here on the African Continent. photo credit to Vocare Ministries

We're working hard to see that we have more givers than beggars; it's slow but exciting work!

Above are a  few of the farmers that I train in Wante in their gardens earlier in this drought-stricken season. Drought? What Drought?

We're feeling sick; please pray

Hello friends,  I'd like to be writing to you about how the Farming God's Way kiosk was at the Agricultural show recently but that will have to wait. I'm quite sick and don't have much energy.

Please pray for us. Most of us have been hit by a strong flu virus. Only Albert and Isaiah have not been down yet. Jane was hospitalised a couple days last week with an infection and extremely bad back spasms making even breathing difficult. I've never seem her in so much pain! In fact she remembers little of last Tuesday. Please pray for her full recovery.

Simply, we'd love your prayers for our health. I'm in charge of our national training this coming week and I need to recover quickly.

Thanks.
Chris

Count down...

Well friends we are getting close to our departure date. We are officailly released to leave now by Equip so thanks to you all who have supported us and given generously towards the work we will be doing. We will really value your prayers and continued support over the next days and weeks to come as we settle back into Uganda.

We will be living at Hopeland which is the YWAM base here in Jinja, Uganda. It will be very hot and humid when we arrive. We hope we'll all adjust well to the many changes quickly.

We have spent the last week packing up our 15 pieces of luggage (each about 70lbs) plus our 5 carry-on pieces. We're trying to sort out what to pack, what to send to mom and dad's for storage, what should go to VV, what we could maybe sell, and what should be trashed. We are now pretty much packed and need to mainly work on getting rid of the rest of the stuff in the houseand then cleaning the house. Lots to do but it seems we are on schedule.

We'll be leaving on the 15th at 8.30. Please pray that all will go well and we'll have a good flight and a good connection in London. We leave London at around 9pm (UK time) on Tuesday and arrive 8.30 am (Uganda time) in Entebbe. Kenny will be celebrating his Birthday in Heathrow - we'll see what we can do for an airport party.

By the way we'll be on Yahoo messanger so you can talk to us/see us (we have a built-in web cam) if you track us down on our usual yahoo address (sperling_equip@yahoo.ca)