Happy Father's Day!

Hello everyone! First of all, on behalf of the entire group, I want to wish all of the Dads reading this a very happy Father’s Day—we are so grateful for you, we miss you, and I have been asked to send lots of love from people who wished they could have called you all yesterday!

We’ve come to the end of our time at Child Voice, and the goodbye was very emotional. The girls sang us a hauntingly mournful farewell song and few of us managed to stay dry-eyed. We learned so much from them in such a short time—we were captivated by their joy, and in awe of the remarkable healing process they are engaged in. Our team was the first group of visitors to stay with them at the CVI compound, so the depth of emotion was mutual—most of them didn’t make it through the song without dissolving into tears. We will miss them! Here are a few goodbye photos:

Since leaving CVI, we’ve had some time to chill out and kick back with our new friends from FOCUS, the highlight being an impromptu dance workshop by Peter and Rogers. I wish I got a picture of “the Toms” dancing to a special Father’s Day song, but we do have it on video! Here are some other shots:


Last night, we had the privilege of attending a FOCUS fellowship meeting at a nearby Clinical School (a university specifically for pre-med students). It was so fun to experience a Ugandan “Large Group” meeting! Their passion for worship and prayer is downright inspiring—and their ability to run a synthesizer, mics, and lights without electricity is so impressive! Maghan gave the message and reminded us of the critical centrality of the gospel in the efforts to rebuild and heal this war-torn land. It was a great evening. Here are a couple of pictures:


For the next couple days, we will be staying at a hostel in Gulu as we continue our work in the IDP camps. We are hoping to spend some significant time learning and listening to camp residents in an effort to determine how to bring what we’ve learned back to our campuses. If you think of it, please pray for natural opportunities for this to happen.

On Wednesday we head to Murchison Falls National Park to enjoy a few days of safari (yes, we will see big game!) as well as time to debrief and discuss what we have been learning with and from FOCUS. God has been doing deep things through our collaboration this week, but we have had little time to reflect and discuss amidst the flurry of activity—so this will be a critical time to digest and integrate the significance of our unique partnership. Please pray for our conversations and our last few days of fellowship together, that God would continue to teach us, mold us, and knit our hearts together in partnership and love.

FYI, I’m not sure when I will next have internet access—to give you some perspective, the internet in the entire city of Gulu was down the other day!—so it may be a while until my next post. ☺ But thanks again for walking with us and keeping up-to-date on our adventures. We love you all so much!