Spring Update: New training farm and trip to Uganda and Rwanda

 

New training farm and trip to Uganda and Rwanda

Good afternoon friends and family! We're excited to let you know about some new and exciting things that are happening with our work under Equip Canada. Before I continue though, I want to say how great it was to see many of you in Saskatchewan at various speaking engagements and in Abbotsford at our dessert night in early May! It's always nice to see you, our partners, face to face! We love you and thank God for the various roles you all play, not only in our ministry but also in our lives! Back in April, I was contacted by a friend who wanted to know if I was interested in a couple of acres of land for farming and community gardening here in Abbotsford - rent free! After thinking it through we jumped at the offer and sensed God's blessing on the concept as another friend quickly offered to give us a "tiny home" office to put on the land. I got to work prepping the land in early May, once I was back from my Saskatchewan speaking trip at the end of April.

Jorge (from Nicaragua) and Michelle (co-founder of Amparo) helping to put in a garden at our new training farm.

It worked out so well to have this piece of land under foot by early June as I had a team going to Nicaragua coming for training -- how great to have our own place to showcase and train people in Farming God's Way. The group is part of an organization called Amparo and is looking at Kingdom transformation of a village through careful and intentional work, focusing on education and a couple of strategic projects. It's wonderful to work with new friends on the same glorious mission! The team included two Nicaraguans so I know the impact was very direct! I will be working on getting about half of the land into cropping production -- all of it is planted at the moment but I need more of "God's blanket" (mulch) to cover the land properly! We have a demonstration and learning area and then a larger area where we have dill, potatoes, pumpkins, squash and dahlias and a little sweet corn and some "pearl" corn (multicoloured). If you'd like to see first hand how Farming God's Way looks in the field, now is your chance. We're happy to host you! In fact, we'll try to plan a grand opening in the fall when there is some corn and potatoes to roast! Keep your eyes open for an invite towards the end of summer!

The other exciting news we have is that Jane and I are planning a 3-week trip this summer to check on work and family in Uganda and Rwanda. It will be great to see our boys and I'm especially looking forward to reconnecting with Peter and Venuste in Rwanda! They have been doing such a good job of following up with farmers and continuing on the journey of growing as trainers! The above photo is of the compost training that Peter and Venuste ran at ATN. I have received many great encouraging updates of increased yields and improved lives at home! Our farmers are a shining light in their communities! Forgiveness and reconciliation play such a big role in Rwanda as farmers move intentionally towards seeing God's shalom in their families and on their land! The spiritual fruit is the best to harvest! It was clear to see, when I visited Rwanda last, that "our" farmers were growing in love and trust and were gaining their God-given dignity as farmers! Below is one of the farmer's bean fields -- what a beautiful crop! Bottom -- the joy of living God's way -- restored joy through learning Farming God's Way!

Prayer points - we would continue to value your prayers and support as our ministry grows both here in Canada and in Africa. Please pray for Chris to be able to make good connections with various Bible schools and missions in Canada and the USA so that we can start a Farming God's Way internship program next spring here in Abbotsford. The proposed concept is to train people here with skills and then send them overseas to our partners to use Farming God's Way as an outreach tool. Please pray for our trip to Africa: Pray for safety and health and for really good connections with key people who can continue reaching their communities through Farming God's Way Pray for fruit -- we want to see many come to Christ and to equip believers for a closer walk with Jesus! Pray for finances -- flying in the summer is expensive (but Jane's only option) and we also need additional finances to set up our demo farm and office here in Abbotsford. Chris is also hoping to be full-time with Equip by next year so this needs more monthly supporters to join our team! For more info or to donate just go to our website: sperlingsinafrica Thanks again for all your love, prayers and support! Chris and Jane and kiddos!

 

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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Hibiscus Close-up

"Hybiscus close up"

The Shot: One of our favourite places to go as a family near our home town of jinja is called Kingfisher Resort. It's just across the Nile and situated at the shores of Lake Victoria that narrow down to the Nile. We often go in the late afternoon. The kids jumpo in the pool and jane and I set up our mats and Canadian camping chairs under the shade of some nice trees in the gardens below. At some point I will get out my phone and start takng pictures of the beautiful planst and flowers in large garden area that leads to the lake. Here is a variagated hybiscus in the gorgeous afternoon sun.

Pray for Chris' trip to East Africa

 

Chris will be in Africa for over three weeks from the end of January to mid-February, helping to build strong trainers and strong training networks around the Farming God's Way resource in Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya. Strong networks and strong trainers mean that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be taught with heartfelt conviction and many will be led to walk in God's ways in both word and deed! This is a spiritual battle -- the darkness of witchcraft, ancestral worship, jealousy and fear is being exposed and pushed back through the teaching of God's word in this powerful and practical way. We need you to pray for this time to be effective and transforming.

First up -- Uganda! In Field Mentoring Please pray for everyone traveling from all over the world to this major event -- pray for safe and timely travels in the air and on the road. Pray for negative COVID tests for those who need them to enter (and leave Uganda. Pray for safety on the roads -- Ugandan roads are crazy! Pray for the up-and-coming trainers who are looking to become accredited; pray that they would put much effort into preparing their hearts and minds for this event. Pray for the communities around Kyando, Mayuge district where the outreach will be. Pray that hearts would be softened so that they may repent and turn from their own wicked ways to God's ways. Pray against the strongholds of witchcraft and ancestral worship which bind so many people in darkness! Pray for good weather and pray that nothing would hinder the local farmers from coming to the village trainings that will be the culmination of this great event. Rwanda National Training In Rwanda, I'll be helping a small team put on the first-ever Farming God's Way national training. Please pray that we will get the word out ahead of time so that the people who would benefit from the training can hear about it and have time to plan to come. Please pray for Chris and his two Rwandan friends Pierre and Venuste to be able to plan a well-organized event that will help impact many. Also, pray that God would add to us key people who will be willing to get this message out with sacrificial commitment. Again pray for safe travels for myself and others who will be traveling to this event just outside Kigali. Pray for many enthusiastic attendees who will return home eager to implement what they have learned and share it with others.

Kenya National Training The last leg of my trip will be a few days on the outskirts of Nairobi helping a great team of trainers run a national training. This will be another great opportunity for many to encounter Farming God's Way for the first time and many to brush up on their knowledge and skills and get connected with a great network of farmers and trainers. Pray that possibly another accredited trainer could join me for this time to help share the training burden. Please pray that this event would help relationally link the many trainers and farmers from all over this large country. Pray that people will encounter the Holy Spirit as they attend the training and be convinced to walk in God's ways. Pray that there would be a solid unity among the trainers as we build a forum of men and women who want to see many reached for the Kingdom with this powerful tool. Central Africa Focus Our work in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya are all part of a strategic thrust into Central Africa to build relational networks as a foundation to good trainings and strong trainers. Please pray that God will direct as we move ahead and consider countries like Burundi, Tanzania and the DR Congo. We need good connections with people who love their communities and nations and are willing to put effort into serving in such practical ways.

The Baobab Tree

"The Baobab Tree"


In the fall of 2017, I produced a small calendar with some of my photographs. I then promised that there would be a blog post to explain each shot. I didn't make it too far but here goes to fulfilling the promise almost three years later...


About the shot: We had just spent our first full day at In Field Mentoring honing our training skills and going over our experiments with our chief trainer, Grant Dryden. The location was a field not far from the main Overland Rapid 14 base which is on the Zambizi gorge just north of Livingstone. I doddled behind and found this silhouette of a Baobab tree as we left the training site. I love the shot because it gives you the typical shape of the tree as well as the feeling of a warm African evening with the glow of the yellow setting sun. If you're familiar with the African seasons you can also see that it is dry season -- not a single leaf on most trees!

The story: Baobab trees are a quintessential skyline feature in many parts of Africa. We don't have any in Uganda so it was amazing seeing many of these beautiful trees when I traveled to Zambia in 2014. I was in Zambia for In Field Mentoring with the Farming God's Way "family" in 2014 and got to see a number of Baobab trees. I had Albert along and we enjoyed this very dry but amazing section of the continent together!

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.”

"Seaside Apartments in Summerstrand"

"Seaside Apartments in Summerstrand"

This is the second shot in a monthly series that goes with the 2018 Calendar I recently put out. The calendar is composed of shots from my Instagram account @cssperling. Each blog in this series will have a little info about the shot and then the story behind the shot. (sorry I'm a bit behind but I need to keep promises)

About the shot:

Just like the last month's shot, February's shot is from a trip to Port Elizabeth. I've had the blessing of being in the windy city a few times on work assignments with Equip. It has a feel like southern California with blue skies, amazing surf and lots of palm trees but without all the crowds!

This is a nice bright building with pleasing lines that stand out nicely in black and white. It sort of gives a Mediterranean feeling with the stark white structure against the deep blue skies. I went with the black and white as it brings out the staggered apartments accented by the tropical silhouettes  of the shrubbery against the dark hues of the blue sky.

The story:
I would pass this building as I walked from my friends' Summerstrand apartment, where I often stay in PE, on my way to buy a few favourites at the local Spar supermarket. It's a short walk in the cool brisk winter air (winter here means highs of 16-20C with lots of wind!) to a nearby mall where I would come to stock the fridge with great South African treats like pastries, cheese, along with  a favourite --my grenadine yogurt! This picture spurs fond memories of bright and blustery days on the amazing Eastern Cape. 

It's not what it looks like!

Have a look at the picture on the right. No, it’s not a poor African farmer receiving a gift from a rich white westerner who is having pity on her dire situation. No, this is a picture of a joyful woman who is giving freely and out of joy from her bountiful harvest to the people who shared the good news of farming God’s way with her. Isaac and I received a generous gift of fresh maize for roasting from this lovely lady. I love this picture because it shows a number of things that, purely by the grace of God, we have been able to attain. Firstly, starting on the left God has provided us with our intern Isaac who has a heart for sharing the gospel and teaching Farming God’s Way. God led him to us and he has been so eager to learn from me and the resource material so that he can turn around and teach and train the farmers under his care. In the middle of the picture is Mama Mutesi; she is the second person that gets me excited about this picture. She was taught by Isaac and put in her own Farming God’s Way plot and, despite being very sick during the season, has a verdant plot of maize along with some beans and sweet potatoes. I don’t think she has ever had a bountiful crop of maize like this. She will be able to provide for herself and her young children (you can’t see her infant tied to her back with the blue shawl). Another person you can’t see in the picture is you – our faithful supporter – who enables us to physically reach people like this and then to pray for the wisdom strength, protection, favour and blessing we need to reach out to farmers across Uganda. Lastly, the main reason I love this picture is that it is an image of God’s abundant provision for a woman who has started the journey of walking in faithful and knowledgeable hard work which is resulting in the release of God’s blessing toward her and her family. She represents many more in Uganda who are walking in the life that God has for his children as faithful and hardworking stewards of the people and possessions He has placed in their hands. God is so good

"The Storey with Stairs" -the January shot from my 2018 Calendar.

The first in a monthly series that goes with the 2018 Calendar I recently put out of shots from my Instagram account @cssperling. Each blog in this series will have a little info about the shot and then the story behind the shot.**

About the shot:

This is a fun shot at my friend Wally and Morag Gray's place in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. They often let me stay for free in their beautiful ocean-side apartment when on work trips to South Africa. In this picture I'm looking down from about the 8th floor onto the winding stairs in their apartment.   I love the blue linoleum stairs as they are pleasing to the eye and the view from their 8th floor gives the shot some great perspective!

The story behind the shot: Stairs -- taking me to a different storey in my life...

Stairs have become a major part of my life. This is not for fitness reasons, although my growing bulge makes them a great option for keeping me in shape.

Here is the story.

In 1998 I moved to Uganda, along with my sister April, for a year of testing the waters of missionary life. I went on the standard malaria medication, Lariam, as recommended by my Canadian travel clinic. I started on the prophylactic meds a week before leaving for Uganda.

One week into my time at the New Hope Uganda guesthouse I was in my room one evening enjoying the ambiance of my kerosene lantern when I decided I wanted to go out for a bit. I had locked the door from the inside, which is standard practice in Uganda -- but I couldn't find my key! I went, for the first time in my life, into a state of absolute panic. My mind raced madly and my body raced even faster with an accelerated heart beat and feelings of extreme distress. I had never felt that sort of fear and panic relating to a physical event. I finally found my key and got out and went to my sister's room nearby. With my heart and mind still running amuck with feelings of terror, I told her how I felt and that I didn't even want to think about going back to my room. I spent the night, with my body still in panic mode, focusing my mind on scripture and worship music with April's discman until I finally fell asleep.

I soon learned from many other missionaries that Lariam was a disaster for overseas travelers! It had lead to many scary episodes of panic attacks and vivid nightmares as well as paranoia for people from all walks of life. When you read the drug warnings, the label says that people prone to mental stress and a history of mental illness should not take it. Moving to a new country in Africa was certainly enough mental stress to set off these horrible side effects!

In the days and weeks and then months and years following I have suffered continually from panick attacks which were entirely new territory for me. I would wake up with my heart racing and a dry mouth in the middle of the night; feeling the need for fresh air I would get outside to slowly calm myself. I would feel panick when stuffed into a local taxi with countless other Ugandans who had their children, animals and shopping wares along with them. I would even get a feeling of panick when I enhaled dusty air - not good for a farmer interested in agriculture missions!

Where is the connection with stairs in all this? My life in Uganda has involved a lot of time in the crazy Kampala capital going to lawyers offices, visiting immigration officers and filing numerous documents for myslef, my wife and my children all over the city in highrise buildings. In Kampala high-rises or at the Entebbe airport  you can take the elevator to quickly get up to your desired destination. However, unlike the ones I was used to in Canada, these elevators often stopped working frequently due to power outages and mechanical faults. With my aversion for panic attacks and crowded spaces with no air circulation, I knew Uganda elevators were not an option for me. I would take the stairs to avoid the anguish of another panic attack. Even up to this day, I will still take the stairs when on my own as it is still difficult to convince my body and mind not to panic about the possibility of being stuck in an elevator. Stairs are now a major part of my life. So if I'm at your appartment door huffing and puffing, now you know why...

* Note: I have been slowly been able to manage panic attacks by training my mind to think rational thoughts which slowly feeds my body the right information to respond to. It's not easy and, although panic attacks have been a part of my life since 1998, I now experience them less often and with lower intensity. God has been faithful to slowly teach me how to manage them and I'm so glad I've been able to avoid medicating the problem.

** to order a Calendar send me an email and I can get the months you want put into your Calendar. $20 pickup in Abbotsofrd, or $20 plus postage. Follow me on instagram https://www.instagram.com/cssperling/