Being Late is Sometimes a Good Sign

Notice that I did not say being late is a good thing. I said it was a good sign. I really don't appreciate when people delay contacting or meeting me, so I imagine you are the same way. The reason I say that it is a good sign is that I think it is a sign that I am settling in here. Let me elaborate....

For starters I didn't even think it was a noteworthy thing to write about when the kids caught grasshoppers and we all ate them as an appetizer on Thanksgiving before our turkey meal. I just ate them and thanked the kids for their hard work and generosity in sharing them with me. This wasn't my first time eating bugs here, and it won't be the last. They are actually kind of tasty! I especially like what they call "white ants". The kids say that they live in the termite mounds with the termites and sometimes they come out after a heavy rain. What I really think (and I only think so because I watched Animal Planet as a kid) is that they are the prince or princess termites that go out to supply the means of fertilizing queen termites or becoming new queens themselves. This is only a guess, but the kids say all sorts of things that didn't really make sense and later turned out to be false. So I don't feel too bad disagreeing with them. A quick Wikipedia search just confirmed what I thought. Feel free to skip the following paragraph:

In areas with a distinct dry season, the alates leave the nest in large swarms after the first soaking rain of the rainy season. In other regions, flights may occur throughout the year, or more commonly, in the spring and autumn. Termites are relatively poor fliers and are readily blown downwind in wind speeds of less than 2 km/h, shedding their wings soon after landing at an acceptable site, where they mate and attempt to form a nest in damp timber or earth.

Anyway, it feels nice to be settling in a little bit here. I have finished my second Thanksgiving away from family, and the next mile marker is my first Christmas away from my biological family, but I suppose I will be with family nonetheless.

I do have one more story I could tell quickly. You know those jokes where someone tells you it that it is hard to do something and they pretend it is hard, then they hand it to you and it explodes in your face and everyone laughs at you? Well I had an interesting experience with that sort of joke the other day. Here is how it went.

I we had a normal Sunday breakfast of the lovely pancakes Suzanne makes every Sunday. Things were looking up. It was going to be a relaxed day after a sort of crazy weekend of driving long hours so the kids could perform in a play they had been complaining about not wanting to do for over a month. Anyway, one of the three amigos, Francis, started talking about how you can't break an egg if you hold it a certain way. I knew that it was a joke, but by the way he and several of the other guys were so adamant about it I decided to just leave it alone. I knew that the joke was to just get someone to try squeezing the egg and then laugh at them when it exploded on them. I told them not to waste any eggs because they were being used for the pancakes.
So the day went on pretty normally, and later that afternoon I was recruited to make the hamburger patties. One of the thing I was putting in the mix was eggs. Now one of the older boys, Rick, was the most adamant about the egg thing and he took on of the eggs and put it in my hand just above the meat I was mixing. He told me to give it a try. All of my reason told me not to do it. I knew the joke after all. Yet, I was so frustrated by everyone telling me that it wouldn't break that I just squeezed the stupid egg. It was harder than I though, but suddenly the liquid contents exploded like a projectile in two directions. One part splattered backwards onto me, and the other just grazed Suzanne who was working on the other side of the island counter-top in the kitchen. Laughter erupted just like I knew it would, and I felt like the biggest moron in the history of morons. But the story doesn't end there. Everyone was still sure that I must have cracked the egg before I squeezed it, so they wanted me to do it again. How stupid do they think I am? I though. Then to my surprise, Rick picked up an egg and squeezed. The shock on his face brought a whole new light to the whole prank. He had fallen for his own prank and probably shot the stuff farther across the room than I did! They all really believed that the egg would not break! So, it was that the one person who knew how the prank worked fell for the prank, and the person who would have been the victim was, at least for a time, both the victim and the prankster. He me and himself into getting egg all over the kitchen. It was a very confusing feeling.

I was just going to tell the story, but it prompted a prayer request. All of the boys here have a very prideful be right attitude, and I think that was what triggered this whole event. They have a tendency to argue even when they know they are wrong. There is no point in trying to prove anything to them, because they just won't accept being wrong about anything. Well maybe not anything, but at least a great many things. It can be just a nuisance at times, but it can also be a problem. They can be very hard when it comes to correcting any poor behavior. For the three amigos (Vincent, Daniel, and Francis) have a bad problem of touching one another's butts for no good reason. I know that boys can be a little gross and stuff, but trust me when I say this happens in excess. It is a problem. I just need prayer for God to create willing spirits in each of these boys. Willingness to learn new things, to admit when they are wrong about something (especially when it is more serious than squeezing eggs), and an ability to have some self-control. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't at my wits end on a few things with certain behaviors.

I couldn't end this post on the note of the last paragraph, so I just want to remind you that things are going well here. Christmas break will be here at the end of next week! We will have a lot of fun when it gets here, and in the mean time we are all doing pretty well. I'm trying to do some review of math so that I can help the older boys with their algebra. I am surprised how easily I can remember these concepts. It has been a few years since I have done any math, so I am happy to be learning things so many times over with each student that they are getting ingrained in my head. I'm reading a lot of fun and thought provoking books. I'm trying to get out of the habit of only reading half of a book, but I can't seem to break the habit of reading like ten books at the same time. So they are all going rather slowly. I tried to do NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) this past November, I was supposed to write 50,000 words but I only passed 20,000. It was encouraging though, and I hope to finish the story later. The boys and I are still reading through the story of David. Actually if someone could turn me onto a good study of the life of David I would appreciate it. I have an idea to write a TV series sometime, but I want to know everything I can about his life and Psalms before I develop any screenplays.

I hope all is well with you as you read this. May God bless you and keep you! Feel free to contact me at mjstanton21@gmail.com

Internet issues

It has been almost an entire month since I have arrived back in Uganda. The internet only just came back on consistently a few days ago. So I apologize for the late update. 

Things have been going well here so far. There have been some adjustments in the class room as we now have one of the youngest boys, Moses, joining us in the boy's class room. This adjustment was made because one of the one of the older Ukrainian daughters has decided to help out in the classroom for the time being. So we moved an extra student into the room to even out the workload. 

Another school related thing is that I am helping Rick try and get through his High-school subjects at an accelerated rate. 

I will try and post some more things later on, but it look like even as I write this the internet has gone out again.

I continue to write this post a few days later. I admit that the internet has been on for a while now, and I have no excuse for this late post. To be honest I have felt a little pressured to do a lot lately. I need to constantly lay my anxiety before Father. I’m learning to remember that God doesn’t ask me to do anything more than love Him. This love of course means loving the people around me, which means that this love I have needs to manifest and be worked out in certain things I do for others. The most important thing for me is constantly going back to the source of my strength which is found on my knees.

I’ve been doing some interesting things lately. We finished up Friday school a couple weeks ago. There was a final play performance which we filmed, hopefully there will be a viewable copy in the near future.

We just had a Birthday in the house. Francis (far left) has just entered his teen years. Now all three of these boys are thirteen.

Also, we did some work at a hospital a few hours out of town. I was in charge of measuring and cutting all of the new screens for the ward windows. We got about half of it done, and I counted 132 new windows now safely protected from mosquito invasion. This will greatly reduce the Malaria problem in the hospital. Many of the patients were getting Malaria from being at the hospital and would have to stay there longer than they would have.

I am just now starting to get my butt in gear for editing the videos for Eric. Please pray that God will help me to move quickly on those things. I also have a few writing projects I’m working on. Every day is a new day, and I look for the Father to help me overcome every obstacle as I grow in relation to Him.  

It’s Raining

It’s raining. The cool breeze coming in off of the lake is both familiar and profoundly new. It reminds me of some things I don’t want to remember. It shows me how puny I am before its power. The rain is passing and things seem as they were. I see the rocks. They are unchanged after the pelting of the wind and rain. It is hard to see if progress is being made in these kids. Some of their hearts are so hard, and I feel like everything I do and say is like water trickling down and off of them. How long will it take to soften their hearts? Who is strong enough to break up these stones? Was Apollos disheartened as I am by some of the people he watered? Lord, please soften their hearts. Make Your seed grow in this house. Help me to soften my heart. Use me as a conduit for your life giving Son. Let us drink of Him that a spring of water may well up inside of us. Lead us back to the source. Lead us back to you.

Sorry, I needed to get that all off my chest. I have actually been able to relax after so many crazy days. The kids started Friday School yesterday. I’m teaching three of the classes this time: Motion Media Production, Stage Combat, and Creative Writing. I just hope I’m not getting in over my head. The group is larger this time, and I’m missing some of the things I need for Motion Media Production. They seem to be a good group though.

I’ve begun work again on a really old novel of my. I started the initial idea sometime in middle school. The story has changed over the years, but I haven’t managed to get it all out on paper yet. For some reason I can’t quite explain, I really feel I need to finish this book. I’m not going to let the hobby get in the way of the other things I am doing while I’m here, but I would like to finish it.

Anyway, I’ve been a little bit melancholy lately. You may have picked that up in the first paragraph. I look forward to coming home for a few weeks. My prayer is that I don’t just suffer through my time here but that I really give it my all. My patience is tested continually, and I find myself giving out a lot of push-ups. I know, however, that I will miss pouring into these kids. Even just a few weeks away will be hard. I look forward to seeing everyone at home.

Good Old Oswald

I was doing a bit of reading and I found this passage about prayer. Considering that I ask many of you for prayer quite often I thought it might interest you. I thought it was helpful. Here it is,

It is not part of the life of a natural man to pray. We hear it said that a man will suffer in his life if he does not pray; I question that. What will suffer is the life of the Son of God in him, which is nourished not by food, but by prayer. When a man is born from above, the life of the Son of God is born in him, and he can either starve that life or nourish it. Prayer is the way the life of God is nourished. Our ordinary views of prayer are not found in the New Testament. We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves; the Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself.

“Ask and ye shall receive.” We grouse before God, we are apologetic and apathetic, but we ask very few things. Yet what a splendid audacity a childlike child has! Our Lord says—“Except ye become as little children.” Ask, and God will do. Give Jesus Christ a chance, give Him elbow room, and no man will ever do thing unless he is at his wits’ end. When a man is at his wits’ end it is not a cowardly thing to pray, it is the only way he can get into touch with Reality. Be yourself before God and present your problems, the things you know you have come to your wits’ end over. As long as you are self-sufficient, you do not need to ask God for anything.

It is not so true that “prayer changes things” as that prayer changes me and I change things. God has so constituted things that prayer on the basis of Redemption alters the way in which a man looks at things. Prayer is not a question of altering things externally, but of working wonders in a man’s disposition.

–Oswald Cambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 28

Sorry I’m Late/God is Good

I’m not sure where I left you last time I updated this blog, so I will recap this entire week just to be safe. After about three trips to the emigration office, I finally was able to bring all of the paperwork that was required to request an extension on my visitor’s visa. It was actually a really productive day. I got a taste of what Suzanne goes through on a regular basis while she tries to keep things running at Father’s House. In order to acquire one piece of paper we had to drive across town several times. We visited banks and offices. We dropped off papers to be signed and picked others up. It was crazy, but it actually went pretty smoothly. Suzanne said that it was one of her most productive days in a long while; this all happened on Tuesday (Aug 21). I found out that same day that the filming people were going to be at our house on Wednesday. Wednesday was then busy because of the filming that needed to be done. It actually went smoothly, but it did take a long time. Thursday was Bosco’s birthday and it was sort of a normal day. Bosco got a new mp3 player and asked to use my computer to copy files onto it. The next morning I went into town again to try to pick up and pay for my visa. I went to the counter and handed in my receipt and my passport was handed back to me. The lady showed me the stamp and it said I had 40 more days. I asked, “What do I do now?” meaning, ‘where do I pay?’ and she said, “You can go. It is approved.” What a blessing! I was getting ready to hand out my last 50 USD. It is kind of tricky getting money out of the bank here, but I should have plenty to last me until I get home. That evening (Friday), when I sat down to write this blog, I found out that there was a fairly serious virus on my computer and stayed up late into the night trying to eradicate it.

The virus is now eradicated (at least I think) and it is back to work on editing and posting.

There was some inappropriate behavior coming from one of the boys tonight that I had to deal with a little harshly. I really hated doing it because it partly felt like being a bully, but it really needed to be done. Please pray that there will be no hard feelings between the two of us. He gave me a sincere apology not too long after it all happened. I just really hope that I am being a help to these boys in whatever discipline I give, and that I never do it out of anger or frustration. I want to see these boys grow and mature, and I know that it comes through discipline sometimes. Anyway…I’m a little torn up about the whole thing, so prayer would be nice.

During my year at Augustine College this past year I had a philosophy class which began in the book of Ecclesiastes. Last night I was looking at some outlines and things and one of the points of the lecture stood out to me. The professor made the point (and this may not be completely accurate) of taking joy in our work (Ecclesiastes 3:22). If we work just of ends that are seen here on earth (under the sun) then we find that we are chasing after the wind. We should rather see any work that our hand finds as a gift. The work we are given—whatever it may be—is given from God, and we ought to do that work well. At this time in my life, my work is to teach these kids here. It was encouraging to be reminded that this work is a gift. I do my best as a way of offering this work back to God, and by doing so I can in some small way bring it out from ‘under the sun.’ If I can get it out from ‘under the sun’ then it ceases to be vane. I ask that whatever you are doing that you do it with all of your might, offer it up to God as a sacrifice. Don’t go to work just so you can buy food to eat and then eat food so that you can go to work.  Instead, do what you do with joy; do it with perseverance. You are not doing it for some immediate gain. Rather, you are doing it for the glory of your Father in heaven.

I have everything I need to come home for my sister’s wedding. I would love to thank everyone that I can for helping me in whatever ways they did. Your prayers were fulfilled in ways that you and I could never guess. Please keep praying for these kids.

I want to work on some things that I can show to my home church when I get back, and part of it should end up on here too. I apologize that this post is getting up here so late. I pray that Father blesses you in this week, and that you can enjoy the work He gives you to do in it. God bless.

Power is Back! That little droid did it!

I'm sorry about the star wars comment. I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to those movies.

Anyway, the power really is back! After about 12 blisters and a sore back we finished digging a roughly 80m long trench from the main power line to the side of the house.

Then all we had to do was lay in the wire and call the power company to connect it. Now the power is even better than it was before! So that means it is time for me to get back to work on some editing and other projects.

The Mumfords could use your prayer. It seems that the cost of the wire will becoming out of their personal expenses. They have a daughter in college as well as many other expenses baring down on them presently, so adding this whole electricity thing is really stretching and testing them.

Just thought I would send a little update. Talk to you later!

Still No Power, Well, Regular Power

First off, you might be interested to know that this week’s post was first written in pencil. You may also be interested in why that is. Power outages are frequent here at Father’s House, so the fact that we lost power on Sunday [August 12^th] didn’t really upset anyone, and things went on as they usually do when the power goes out. What was odd was what happened when the power came back.

We first noticed something was strange when people were getting quite a in their hands from flipping the lights on and off. Then our dinner was slightly delayed because the stovetop was zapping everyone. Those of us who didn’t feel what the others professed were getting annoyed that the stove wasn’t getting cleaned. I was one of the doubters who for some reason weren’t getting jolted by the stove. I placed my hand on the stove and said, “See, there’s nothing to worry about.” I then reached out to take the reluctant stove-cleaner’s hand and show him everything was fine. I can only imagine the supprize on my face when the electricity suddenly passed through me and the young man’s well-grounded bare feet.  There was clearly a serious problem with our wiring. Today [Tuesday the 14^th] we have an electrician checking out the problem, and hopefully he will find a solution.

As long as I am on the subject of Father’s House maintenance let me briefly share another story. A problem of similar significance happened about a month ago. An extremely large crack was discovered in the water tank on the boy’s side of the house. This tank also serviced the kitchen and landry room. One afternoon (a Wednesday I think) we hulled jery-cans full of the remaining water in the tank to the girl’s side of the house. This simple task took 9 people around 4 hours to complete. Then the real work began. The entire surface of this enormous water tank had to be hand chiseled away so that new concrete could be poured. The entire process took close to two weeks and all the while we were without forced to hand was an enormous amount of clothes that piled up with two washing machines out of commission. We also had to lug water from the girls side to the kitchen. It was a little difficult to work around, but it was kind of fun at the same time.

Now we find ourselves working around no electricity, but by the time you read this it will already be fixed. In the mean time we continues to pray that God will give the gift of a soft, repentant heart to some of the boys here that they might grow father into God’s kingdom.

I have more good news. I have found out that I have plenty of funds to get home in September. I just need to send an email to affirm the purchase. The only thing I have yet to see God do is extend my visa until the departure date (I will need the ticket to do that).

Here ends the penciled update.

Now, to get things up to speed.

The electricity is still out, but we run the generator every once in a while for a few hours to pump water, wash cloths, charge computers, check emails, and various other things. This, however, is very expensive. The problem around the electricity has been discovered. It appears that the original electrician only used the proper wire on the visible parts of the house.  The longer portion of the wire is running under ground to the power company’s pole and is of subpar quality. It seems that the electrician swapped out a cheaper wire and pocketed the extra cash. This now has to be replaced at a great expense to Father’s House, and we are already pressed for resources as it is.

We went into town to request my visa extension, but we had the wrong form, so we will have to try again on Monday. I now know that there at least used to be a 10 day grace period to get an extension in, so my fears are greatly calmed. I am very happy that I waited on the Lord, and I am confident that He will take care of this matter. Getting another visa when I return will be another adventure.

I picked up I and Thou by Martin Buber today, and it made me reexamine the way I was looking at God taking care of things. He said, “Every means is an obstacle. Only where all means have disintegrated encounters occur.” I was thinking of God as a means to staying in Uganda among other things. I had completely forgotten that He called me to be here. He was the initiator of this adventure and that He wouldn’t just leave me such a state as needing Him for something else. I forgot that I need Him for Him. I forgot that I need to encounter God. I need relate with Him as a son to his Father. I’m no expert on Buber’s philosophy, and I often am confused by the things he said in his book, but I am often amazed by the things I do understand, at least a little. I find it very challenging in the right sort of way. I need to quit trying to use God out and begin to enjoy every grace filled encounter I am offered.