bundi recruiting

The word is now out...WHM Bundibugyo Uganda is posting official recruitment opportunities. If you know of someone interested in serving God in these ways, please have them email Joanna Stewart, the WHM East Africa Mobilization Specialist at jstewart@whm.org

Under the leadership of Ann Keiser, the WHM Bundibugyo Missionary Apprenticeship Program is an 18 month apprenticeship opportunity for learning and service in one of the poorest and most remote areas of East Africa.

MAP will be begin in January of 2014 and end in August of 2015. Those interested will need to contact WHM, apply, be interviewed, and invited for an Assessment and Orientation week. Upon that appointment, they will raise necessary prayer and financial support to put them on the field. Are you game to be serve in one of the most challenging environments in which you will experience Jesus like never before?!

MAP positions from Jan 2014 to Aug 2015

1. CSB Program Asst: position already filled 

2. Female Preschool teacher to missionary children at Rwenzori Mission School 

3. Female Community Children Ministry 

4. Male Mission Building Technician (Handyman) and Youth Discipleship 

5. Male Sports or Music Community Outreach

IMMEDIATE: beginning of August to middle December 2013: RMS Preschool teacher

Spread the word...WHM BUNDI is now recruiting!

hma

Home Ministry Assignment...new lingo for an old practice

We are grateful to be settled in one place, Charleston SC, for the next few months, but will be traveling to share about what we see God doing in Bundibugyo Uganda. If we have learned anything these past few years, it is that we can make plans, but they will likely change!

However, this is what we anticipate will happen, so if you are in one of these places, we would love for you to join us!

Jan 27: Crosspoint Church, Goose Creek SC
Feb 7-10: Mitchell Road Pres Church, Greenville SC
Feb 22-24 East Cooper Baptist Church, Mt Pleasant SC
Mar 3: Grace Community Church, Mills River NC
Mar 17: Boston, MA
Mar 24: East Cooper Baptist Church, Mt Pleasant SC
April 1-7: Nashville, TN
April 21: Christ Church Berkeley, CA

"mama, are we home?"

It should have felt like home.

It was our first Sunday in America. Pure joy to worship alongside the hundreds of people that I grew up with...these were the ones with whom I sang, prayed with, and sat next to every Sunday for the most formative years of my life. And then we were called up on stage by Pastor Mike Smith, the very same man from whom we had repeated our vows of marriage and had pronounced us as "one person" eleven years before. It should have felt like home...to be there in this fellowship of believers, to be standing next to my husband and this dear pastor.

But then, in front of these hundreds of people, he asked, "what is the thing that has surprised you most about missionary life?" And then words flowed out of my mouth, out of my heart. Surprising myself as they formed.

Home. The hardest and most surprising part of my missionary journey is that we are called to be homeless. We sold and left our home in the US, we live in a rustic home in the bush owned by WHM, we "itinerate" to borrowed homes in the US. 

I joke with Travis that when people ask me, "So, what do you do?" I want to tell them, "I pack, unpack, pack, unpack."But I am pretty sure that is not what they want to hear, so I share about life in the bush of Africa, how the gospel is moving forward, and about our humble and hardworking team.

I try to make our home in Bundibugyo a refuge, a place for beauty and rest. But my efforts are often thwarted by the continual front door knocking of neediness, the battle with the critters who are not invited indoors, and the stress that naturally comes with poverty, leadership, young children, and make-everything-from-scratch living. So, we pack up our bags, arrange for animals to be fed, close and lock our many shutters, unplug appliances, try to remember the countless power cords and electricity converters, and head out of Bundi to find rest outside of the home. Sometimes, we find that rest. Sometimes, the travel and life out of a suitcase is more exhausting than restorative, but at least we can be a family in a different locale.

Years back, Michael Masso said it best when he described this kind of life as "mobile and chaotic". During times of border insecurity, we have a "go bag" packed of needed essentials should we be forced to move out quickly. A bag always packed...yes, that feels mobile to me. Leaving our house, traveling at minimum three hours on rugged roads with young children to find rest...yes, that feels chaotic to me.

Since we moved to Africa when Aidan was not even three months old, his life has consisted of this rhythm of packing, moving, unpacking, sleeping in a different location, travel by truck, plane, and even occasional trains. En route between Africa and America, we recently spent some recommended time in Spain for rest, reflection, and recalibration to Western culture. When we arrived to our apartment there, Aidan asked in his chubby three year old voice, "Mama, are we home?" The question caught me off guard. We had never been to Spain. Why would he consider and then ask if this place is home? Maybe because, even in his young soul, he understands that we all long for home, a place of refuge, a place to call our very own.

And that is the truth of the gospel. The truth of our lives. We do have a home. It is just not made of walls, whether in sparkly America or muddy Africa. Our home is truly found in Jesus. When I am feeling out of sorts, such as our recent 7 weeks of suitcase life, feeling rootless, I repeat the mantra, "Jesus is my home. My Lord is my home." Again and Again. And Again. And, like the saints that have gone before me and many the saints that are around me, I remember that we are all called to be homeless, to not anchor ourselves or our identity in our house or dwelling space or even our nationality, but to be rooted and find our identity as a child of God, a citizen of His kingdom.

Maybe I am just a slow learner. It should not be the "biggest surprise of my missionary life" that my home is not in this world, but in Jesus. So, the next time Aidan asks if we are home, I can simply tell him, "No baby, we are not home yet."

Merry Christmas

The kids with Grammy, Poppy and Cousins

As we explained to our friends that we were leaving to the US for 6 months for HMA, they did not seem to understand. One said, "You will be back for Christmas, right?" So I explained to them that we had to go to our villages this Christmas to see our mothers for it had been a couple years since we had done so. This made sense to them and became our line.

So, a few weeks ago, we packed our car and began our trek across Uganda, to Europe, across Europe to meet with a dear friend for debriefing, and then to the US and our villages of Charleston, SC and Nashville, TN.
When we boarded the plane in Brussels to cross the Atlantic, the flight attendant said Merry Christmas. I smiled as I realized we would see my family in a few hours and said, "It sure is."

It is good to be with you this Christmas!
Love,
The Johnsons

What child is this?

In surprise I found myself tearing up while singing What Child is This? Surprise because of the image God brought to my mind.
Yesterday morning I felt like the train conductor of the Polar Express trying to pull back the breaks and bring the locomotive to rest only to frightfully watch as it continues to skid across the ice. In the past few weeks we have travelled across 4 countries, 7 cities, and 3 continents. Over the past week, my head has been swimming as my mind tries to reconcile the stark differences of everyday reality here and Bundibugyo. We also have jumped right in to the hustle of Chrismas buying gifts for those we love, waiting in long lines and praying for patience as we sit in traffic for hours just to reach that last store to buy that last perfect gift- only to be told that they don't have it, but their store across town has two left...
So, Sunday snuck up on me. It's Christmas Sunday, we are at "our home villages," with our families, to worship Jesus. I wanted to settle my heart and mind so I could enjoy the moment and worship Jesus. Yet, the brakes did not seem to stop my racing mind.
I pictured myself running through the rooms of my heart trying to find a quiet place to rest and pray. I opened one door and it was filled with all the things needed to do before Christmas. The next was filled with all the correspondence I want send out to friends to arrange time to see them. The next was filled with emotions from the past 3 years in Bundibugyo. Another had desires of being a better husband, father or team leader. Boxes fell out of each door as I quickly tried to push close the door and say- not now. I kept going down the stairs deeper into my heart seeking a place to see Jesus. There was no room.
Finally, in the deep recesses, buried behind dust and boxes of crap, I heard a peaceful steady voice speak into my frantic-ness and say I am here. There in the darkness, as I stumbled over boxes and pushed through cob-webs, a small light shown and I saw the baby Emanuel held by his mother and father, quietly sitting amongst the bustle of my heart.
I had no room and no time to prepare a room. The inns of my heart were full. I failed to prepare the palace for the coming king. Yet, this king, in His love,did not wait for me to be ready. He cleared his own space and pierced his light into my darkness, confusion and madness. He made his home with me, humbly, accepting my brokenness, filth, issues, frustrations, desires, misguidance, and busyness as his home. His love did not wait.
Like the shepherds, when I saw Him there we I did not expect Him, all I could do is proclaim in surprise, "what child is this?"

Location:New Highway 96 W,Franklin, TN,United States

Happy Thanksgiving

We have sent out our November update.  If you have not received it and are on our mailing list, please check your spam inbox.
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas season!
Travis, Amy, Lillian, Patton, and Aidan

rainy season means mpali

 After having dinner at our teammate's house, we returned to find that we had been invaded by mpali, also known as red ants, safari ants, biting ants. When it rains a lot, they must move their nest, so they march in lines to a new home. However, our casa was not their casa! The most effective method to deter them is to mix kerosene and water and pour it where you do not want them to cross. As they were already in our front room, work room, and kitchen, this meant sweeping out hundreds and hundreds of those mean biters and then pouring kerosene along the inside and outside walls of our house. You can see that I am not so happy with their evening invasion and that they liked to hold on to my local broom! Eventually, we got them out and then had a peaceful night...