Happy New Year from Uganda!

Happy New Year!! We pray that this new year brings new hope, new beginnings & new blessings to you and your families! We pray that as you step out into this new year that the things that God has been stirring in your heart would not remain a dream or desire, but that you would step out in faith and take the next step. May you follow where God leads, be bold and courageous and know that the risk is always worth the possibility of failing. Faith Says Yes! Every year our small little group of dreamer dreamer girls in Texas get together and talk about what single word God has put on their heart for the new year. This word is about what we hope God will do in our life in 2016. God has no doubt shown me over this past year that I struggle in the area of complete surrender. The condition of my heart is not always in a place of FULL Surrender and I pray that God will reveal the areas of my life that I have not fully surrendered to Him. So, for 2016 the word that I will pray into my life daily is SURRENDER.  I Love what Rick Warren says about surrendering...   Surrendering your life means: Following God's lead without knowing where he's sending you; Waiting for God's timing without knowing when it will come; Expecting a miracle without knowing how God will provide; Trusting God's purpose without understanding the circumstances. You know you're surrendered to God when you rely on God to work things out instead of trying to manipulate others, force your agenda, and control the situation. You let go and let God work. You don't have to always be in charge. Instead of trying harder, you trust more. Surrender yourself to the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7 What is your word for 2016? We Pray that God reveals to you the areas in your life that need to be surrendered to the only One who can truly carry them.   "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. ~Galatians 2:20 HAPPY NEW YEAR! from the Harper Family 2016 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven. ~Phillipians 3:13-14 For Him~ Sid, Wendy + the Tribe

Celebrating EVERY Christmas present opened!     Celebrating Gertrude's Christmas Birthday in her village. First time to celebrate her birth. It was a Happy !8th!

Thank You for your continued prayer for our family as we serve in Northern Uganda and South Sudan. Please continue to pray for these current prayer points. Blessings to ALL of you! Pray for us as we continue to learn the language Pray for Sydnie as she continues outreach in Nepal Pray for Lacey as she settles into life stateside Pray for Health for the WHOLE family Pray as we continue to actively share Christ with Muslims and non-believers Pray as we step out in faith to begin the adoption process Pray as we begin the process of getting licensing from Government for "The Haven" How You Can Help... Prayer is first and foremost essential to our ministry. We cannot thank you enough for faithfully praying for us. Partnership through monthly support or one-time tax deductible donations through our DONATE button below or via check to:                  LINKS USA                  P.O. Box 1223                  San Marcos, Tx 78667                  Re: Harper Family

Joy To The World ~ Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas!  It seems like we were just writing our November update! This time of year flies no matter where you live in the world. We spent hours looking for anything resembling a Christmas tree (think Charlie Brown tree) but we succeeded in adding a little Christmas feel to the house as we sleep under fans and run around in flip flops and tank tops. This month has been full of activities & ministry + a couple of fractured wrists, a bum knee and malaria x2. We started out the month with Sid heading to Kampala to join Jason Bollinger with LINKS International at a pastors leadership conference. They had some good time together and Sid had opportunity to share with him more about what God is doing here in Northern Uganda & South Sudan. We are super grateful for the spiritual and emotional support we receive from our LINKS family. The day after Sid returned from Kampala Lacey, Baylie & I took the overnight bus to Kampala to see Lacey off at the airport. After 18 months and 3 countries Lacey was headed home to surprise friends & family. She had a long journey and pulled off a good surprise. Baylie & I spent a few days in Kampala celebrating her belated 16th birthday with movies, good food & shopping. It was so fun to have one on one time with her. We traveled back on the bus with our fellow YWAMer Andrew who has come from Bozeman, Montana to minister with us for the next month. He's preparing to preach in a community of Muslims the day after Christmas & we are excited about the word that God has given him. He and Sid will head into South Sudan to pray over the land. Please pray that God gives them opportunities to share the gospel. Sid continues to oversee all of the building that is going on around the YWAM Arua base and has stepped into a new role assisting with Administrative and money matters on the base as well as a multitude of logistics. Wendy continues with homeschooling the children along with handling correspondence with upcoming outreach teams, organizing schedules, organizing fundraising for a much needed Land Cruiser for the YWAM base and helping with social media for YWAM Arua. We celebrated our "ONE Year in Uganda" on the 15th of December. It was fun to look back and talk about our favorite moments, our hard moments & all that God has done in our lives over the past year and how He has used every one of us in ways we never could have imagined! We Wish All of you a Very Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year! For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ~ Isaiah 9:6 For Him~ Sid, Wendy + the Tribe

Well Yes, you can get a Land Cruiser STUCK! Sid with Jason fromLINKS at a leadership conference in Kampala. Thankful for their missionary support. Tate under the waterfall celebrating his 12th Birthday

Thank You for your continued prayer for our family as we serve in Northern Uganda and South Sudan. Please continue to pray for these current prayer points. Blessings to ALL of you! Pray for us as we continue to learn the language Pray for us as we spend our 2nd Christmas away from family Pray for Sydnie as she continues outreach in Nepal Pray for Lacey as she settles into life stateside Pray for Health for the WHOLE family Pray as we continue to actively share Christ with Muslims and non-believers Pray as we step out in faith to begin the adoption process Pray as we begin the process of getting licensing from Government for "The Haven" How You Can Help... Prayer is first and foremost essential to our ministry. We cannot thank you enough for faithfully praying for us. Partnership through monthly support or one-time tax deductible donations through our DONATE button below or via check to:                  LINKS USA                  P.O. Box 1223                  San Marcos, Tx 78667                  Re: Harper Family

Feet In Uganda ~ One Year

Whew! One Year! Where has it gone?

We stepped off the plane in Entebbe, Uganda a year ago with a ridiculous amount of bags ready for whatever God had in store for us. It's exciting to see where God has brought us to in these past months. We've learned so much and we grown to see God in a whole new wonderful way. This place has become our home, the people have become our family and we are continuing to step out in faith believing that God will continue to sustain us as we minister in Northern Uganda & South Sudan.

Faith Says Yes

In morning devotions we asked each of the kids to describe this past year in there own words + tell us what God has done in their hearts this year. Here's each of there responses word for word...

Baylie(16): This year has been awesome, hard and I've learned a lot. God has taught me to value relationships and that being a missionary is hard and sometimes you do things even when do you want to our your afraid to.

Jonathan(13): This year has been hard and sometimes boring. God has allowed me to play baseball in Uganda and given me a friend my age here.

Tate(12): I feel like I can go up to people and say hi and its not gonna be weird. God has changed my heart so that I can see stuff in a different way. Like caring about others and enjoying the outdoors more.

Charlie(11): If he could talk he'd say... "I love beans and chipati, swimming at the only pool in Arua and my teacher Harriet. And I know God and my family love me."

Emmy(10): This past year has been fun & hard. God has grown me closer to him. He has taught me so many things and how to help others.

Levi(8): Riding bodas, going to town, beans & rice, my Ugandan friends at school, my teacher Milly and playing soccer with anyone that will play with me.

Kenlie(8): This year has been hard but I made new friends and have had fun. God has made me feel better about moving here.

**Thank you to all of you that continue to cover our family in prayer. Thank you for your love and support and for sending encouraging words to us. We feel the prayers and we are so thankful for every one of you**

Thanksgiving, Ministering to Muslims + BIG NEWS

Happy Thanksgiving! Our list of things we are Thankful for gets increasingly longer as the days pass here. Today we want to take a moment to tell you how incredibly thankful we are for each of you. The love and prayer that we have felt over the past 14 months has sustained us and we realize that this is the most vital part of our lives. We are thankful for every encouraging message, every prayer sent and every donation that has been given. Because of you, lives are being transformed, people are growing in their relationship with God & people are are giving their lives to Christ! We can not thank you ALL enough! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! This month's update brings lots of NEWS!!! At the beginning of October we sat down as family and circled 3 BIG things we felt we needed to pray over. We spent the month boldly praying for each of these decisions knowing and believing that God would answer us, and He did! The 3 BIG THINGS: Does God want us to remain here in Northern Uganda and work in and out of South Sudan or does He want us to move into South Sudan now. Timing for adopting again. Specifically adopting from Uganda. Should we move forward with a vision that Wendy has for “The Haven” (A place for infants living with or affected by HIV who need a place for healing and restoration to gain strength so they can be placed back with family)  After much discussion and prayer as a family we are: Remaining in Arua, Uganda for the next 2-3years Moving forward with adopting from Uganda Moving forward with helping to establish “The Haven” under YWAM Arua Remaining in Arua has come with excitement but a bit of grieving as well. Our hearts from the beginning have been to 'move' into South Sudan. After almost a year here in Uganda, God has shown us that for our family to be successful as long term missionaries, living in Arua near the South Sudan border and working in and out of South Sudan is vital. God has also shown us that we can be more effective in multiplying ourselves with our gifts and skills here in Northern Ugandan and helping to multiply and mobilize others to go into the remote areas to reach people for Christ. God may take us into South Sudan in the future, but for the next 2-3 years He is planting us here in Arua. Our next newsletter will share more about the VISION on "The Haven." We are excited about all God is doing and encouraged by how God continues to be faithful. Please continue to pray for us as we step out into some new radical things. The kids are thriving here; they are all doing well with their homeschool, making friends and are excited about playing a part in helping with “The Haven.” Sid continues to be involved in the construction on the base, daily logistics and preparing for the next DTS. (Discipleship Training School) he is spending time with a ministry called Reaching Africa's Unreached (RAU) about an hour Northeast of Arua. They are working in a primarily Muslim area and are slowly seeing Shaikhs and Imams engaging and learning about what the Word of God says and who the Jesus is that we as Christians follow. God is doing amazing things! We are learning more about this missionary life everyday and we are thankful for the grace God continually gives us. Thank you again for your love and support and may you all have a blessed Thanksgiving surrounded by the people you love. For Him~ Sid, Wendy + the Tribe

Levi's Preschool Graduation. He'll start Kindergarten in February   We celebrated Baylie's 16th Birthday!   The Tribe minus Sydnie Thanksgiving Day 2015

Thank You for your continued prayer for our family as we serve in Northern Uganda and South Sudan. Please continue to pray for these current prayer points. Blessings to ALL of you! Pray for us as we continue to learn the language Pray for us as we spend our 2nd Christmas away from family Pray for Sydnie as she leaves for Nepal Dec. 6th for Outreach Pray for Health for the WHOLE family Pray as we continue to actively share Christ with Muslims and non-believers Pray as we step out in faith to begin the adoption process Pray as we begin the process of getting licensing from Government for "The Haven"

New Believers, Rwanda & Babies...

Greetings from Uganda! As we continue to serve here in Northern Uganda and South Sudan we are continually amazed at how the Lord is growing our faith and humbly reminding us that this IS ALL ABOUT HIM! Our family continues to settle into life in a new culture and God continues to surround us with people to encourage and love us. Sid continues to have full days helping with logistics on the YWAM base. He recently began overseeing 2 building projects on the base including a dining hall and multipurpose building. Both of these will allow our base to be a much needed venue for pastors conferences, discipleship trainings and community events. He has taken outreach teams to Labone & Yei, South Sudan, as well as Moyo, Uganda where the teams focus has been sharing the gospel with remote villages through door to door evangelism and open air preaching. They have seen many people come to Christ because of their obedience. Wendy along with Megan Elkins has continued to do maternal child teaching in village churches near the South Sudan border. The favorite teaching so far has been Family Planning! Ha! Sid & Mike were able to join the girls to teach after a sunday morning church service and it was encouraging to have the men asking questions and wanting to be involved in the planning of their family and the health of their wives. (Anyone else think it's funny for the parents of 9 children to be teaching on family planning?) Sydnie has been gone for 5 weeks and WE MISS HER! She continues to seek God and is doing well at her DTS (Discipleship Training School) in South Africa. She will continue the lecture phase of her DTS for 7 more weeks and then head out with her outreach team to Nepal. Sid, Jojo & Tate just returned from a 2 day bus ride from Rwanda where they visited Lacey. They spent time at the Special needs school and the feeding program in Gisenyi, Rwanda. They had a great time and will definitely file that trip away in the guys trip 'Memories' file. In 2 weeks time both our house helper, Joyce, and Levi's teacher, Milly, have given birth to sweet babies. Joyce gave birth at the local hospital and I (Wendy) picked her up and took her home exactly 3 hours after she gave birth. We returned the next morning and sat on a concrete bench for 5 hrs awaiting the baby's Hep B immunization. Milly traveled to care for her sister who had an emergency c-section and then she gave birth to her own baby 3 days later. Her sister who was already widowed did not survive the c-section & left behind a precious baby named Mercy. Please pray for this family as they grieve. These women are my hero's! We were excited to see a team of plastic surgeon's from UK come to Kumi, Uganda where our friends and YWAM staff in Soroti, Uganda were able to seek care for there daughter who suffered severe burns several years ago. We pray that the procedure that was done will help the scaring on her face. Homeschooling continues to go well and we have settled into a new 'normal' We are continuing to pray that God will provide a teacher/tutor to join us in helping with schooling and serve alongside our family. As a family we continue to step out in faith daily, joining God where he is already working. We are continuing to seek God in prayer as He shows us where we can most be used here. He is always faithful and we are encouraged that this is where he wants us. Thank you for your continued prayer as we serve the Lord and may we continue to bring Him glory in all we do.

Joyce and her new baby BOY!   Sydnie with her Nepal Outreach Team   Milly's new baby Girl. Her name is Precious:)

Thank You for your continued prayer for our family as we serve in Northern Uganda and South Sudan. Please continue to pray for these current prayer points. Blessings to ALL of you! Pray for clarity as God continues to show us where He wants us to reach the lost, serve and love the people of Uganda & South Sudan Pray for Sydnie as she continues in Discipleship Training School in South Africa and prepares for Outreach in Nepal Pray for Health for the WHOLE family Pray for Lacey as she continues serving in Rwanda with No.41 Pray for Charlie as he's been newly diagnosed with hypothyroidism and the new meds have increased negative behavior and worsened his lack of sleep

Death & Grief

Two words I thought I was familiar with. And Then… Africa.

It’s hard to put into words the emotion that I feel now that we’ve lived in Uganda for 9 months. Death & Grief, they surround you here. It’s part of everyone’s story. Someone mentioned attending a burial service today for their 8yr old nephew. His short life was taken away by Hepatitis C, a common disease that can be cured with antiviral drugs in 90% of people. Yesterday a mom pregnant with her 8^th baby due to deliver soon shared how full of fear she is after losing 4 of her 7 babies. Just this morning our watchman came to work with high fever and a severely swollen face and neck from what looked like cellulitis. This is the same man whom just 2 weeks ago was struggling from severe pain and high fever from malaria and typhoid. He then shared with me that his son had been severely sick. The mother had taken him to the hospital for treatment of malaria and typhoid and he continued to decline. They returned to the clinic again for IV meds and thankfully this morning he was sitting up and drinking. Stories like these are everywhere and they are heart wrenching. It is never-ending for the people that God has placed here. My heart literally aches for them. The need here is abundant. But among the turmoil… God is PRESENT!

It’s not like we don’t all deal with death in our lives. We are all destined for it. We have all lost loved ones young & old. But here, so many mamas are losing babies, daddies are losing their wives, and children are losing their parents at an alarming rate. So much is preventable. So much of it because of reasons like, “there was no money for transportation,” “we could not pay for the medicines,” “we didn’t know there was a problem.” I’ve come to realize that education on signs and symptoms is crucial and they are hungry to have the knowledge. Just like my friends back home, women want to know how to have a healthy pregnancy, how to have a safe birth and how to care for a healthy newborn. These are the same women that deliver their baby and then ride a boda home 4hrs later, the same women that are carrying jerry cans of water on their head, collecting firewood, cooking and gardening all while caring for their other children, trying to breastfeed their newborn and heal from just giving birth. The women here are my HEROS, they amaze me in their strength and dignity, and they inspire me.

I had no idea when God moved us here that one of the ways he would use me most was to counsel hurting people; grief, marriage, financial, etc. I never thought this was a gift and definitely didn’t think it was something I was qualified to do. Now I realize God has been preparing me for years. It’s never something I do on my own; thankfully God gave me a helper. Without Holy Spirit I would be dangling here in a pool of grief, struggles and tragedies. I’m so grateful that He came to me, that he adopted me and that He forever takes up residence in my heart.

“I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.” ~John 14:18

Thankfully Jesus does not save us by His grace to just abandon us to ourselves and our own works. He’s totally rad in that way. We have not been left alone! We have been given Holy Spirit, the spirit of the very same One who gifted us saving grace!

It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. ~ 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Daily I pray that God will help me to be a blessing to others, but to not carry all their burdens. It’s a struggle for me. I want to help everyone. I want to put their backpack of troubles on my back and carry it for them. The load would be to heavy, the burden to great.

Today I pray that as you read this you will pray for the people who are struggling all around the world. The rich, the poor, the sick, the refugee, the political leaders, the young and the old who are struggling in different ways. That even in your trials and struggles you will hand off your backpack of burdens to the only One who can carry them. The One that has already carried it all for me & you.

  Surely our grief’s He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him. ~Isaiah 53:4-6

May this no longer be the truth...

“We live in a place where death is valued more than life” ~ Anonymous Ugandan

August Update ~ Spreading the Gospel, Back to School & Saying Goodbye

Hello Friends!         WOW! August was just a blip on the calendar. So much has gone on during these past few weeks. We continued to host an outreach team from YWAM Kona this month and we were truly blessed by their time here. Many people came to Christ because of their boldness to share the gospel in the villages and refugee camp. We sent them off on the 15th and covered them in prayer as they headed back to the big island to debrief and prepare to head out in full time missions to Israel, Canada & Australia in the coming months.       We officially started our school year here at Harper's Academy and just completed our 4th week. The kids have settle back in nicely. This year we have a 10th, 8th, 6th, 5th, 3rd & Pre-K (Charlie.) Levi starts back to the final term at his Ugandan preschool and will be promoted to Kindergarten after this term. We are super proud of all of them for embracing homeschooling, and watching them learn is so fun! We are preparing to send Sydnie off to Muizenberg, South Africa where she will be at the YWAM base doing a Dicipleship Training School(DTS.) She will spend 3 months there for the lecture phase and then head to Outreach for 3 months in an unreached country(TBA.) We are excited for her, but also sad to see another child heading off on her own. Please be praying for her and us;) Lacey has been in Gisenyi, Rwanda for the past month working with the ministry No.41 She will remain there through November to assist in keeping things running with the tailoring program and the Feeding Program. The Discipleship Training School that Sid has been staffing is wrapping up and we have two teams heading out on outreach to Labone, South Sudan & Yei, South Sudan. Please be praying for these teams as they spread the gospel in unreached villages. Below is a picture of our sweet friend Gertrude. She just graduated from the Tailoring Program here on the YWAM base. As an infant she contracted Polio and was left crippled because it. She had surgery 4 years ago to allow her to walk but has since grown, and was struggling with poorly fitting shoes, braces, and crutches. We were able to take her to a hospital about 15km away to have her fitted for new ones. She was so surprised and the smile on her face let us know how happy she was. We continue to be amazed at how God is using our family here in ways we never could have expected. We hope to send out a video update soon. We thank each of you immensely for continue to support our family both prayerfully and financially. Without you this would not be possible.

Gertrude trying on her new sandals and leg braces:)     Proud of this girl! Just a few more days and she's off to South Africa.                    Friends in the local village

Thank You for your continued prayer for our family as we serve in Northern Uganda and South Sudan. Please continue to pray for these current prayer points. Blessings to ALL of you! Pray God will provide a teacher/tutor Pray for our hearts as we send Sydnie off to South Africa Pray for Health for the WHOLE family Pray for Lacey as she continues serving in Rwanda How You Can Help... Prayer is first and foremost essential to our ministry. We cannot thank you enough for faithfully praying for us. Partnership through monthly support or one-time tax deductible donations through our DONATE button below or via check to:                  LINKS USA                  P.O. Box 1223                  San Marcos, Tx 78667                  Re: Harper Family