Hannah and Mapile: January 2016

“Praise the Lord! Yes, give praise, O servants of the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord! Blessed be the name of the Lord now and forever. Everywhere – from east to west – praise the name of the Lord. For the Lord is high above the nations; his glory is higher than the heavens. Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump. He sets them among princes, even the princes of his own people! He gives the childless woman a family, making her a happy mother. Praise the Lord!” – Psalm 112: 1-9 NLT

Wow, so much has happened over the last 4 weeks! Mapile and I had a wonderful time with my parents and my cousin in Uganda. It was our first time to go to Uganda, and we enjoyed experiencing lots of new things together. The best part for me was just having time to spend with my family… drinking tea with my mother and playing games as a family. Those are things that I miss so much when I’m away from family, so I certainly soaked up those opportunities.

The first week we were in Uganda we spent in Kampala. We did Christmas shopping, went out to eat, played games in the hotel, spent a day with the Metz family (missionaries to Uganda - from my home church in Marion, IN), and we picked up my cousin Rebecca from the airport on our last day there. From the airport we took a small bus that mom and dad had rented to Busia. Busia is a border town that lies between Uganda and Kenya. There are no big grocery stores there, just small little shops along the road, but you can buy everything that you need at those shops. Mom and Dad’s house is about a 25 minute walk from the town, and that walk feels a lot longer when the sun is beating down on you.

The Central View Hotel we stayed at in Kampala

Out to eat Ethiopian food

I loved seeing where Mom and Dad live. Mom has been writing to me about different people and places since they moved to Uganda in August. It was so cool to have faces to go with all the names, and to see the places that Mom and Dad frequent on a regular basis.

The neighbors, Purity and Valeria, standing on Mom and Dad's front porch

We spent Christmas day at church. The day looked very much like a normal African Sunday church service, except that we all ate a meal together at the end of the service. Also, during the first part of the service my mom, my cousin Rebecca, and I got to share the first “sermon.” It’s really like Sunday school, except that you stand in front of the whole congregation and share in a more formal setting. We were asked to “preach” the first sermon about two days before Christmas, and we agreed to do it together. We talked about the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus, and the spiritual significance of each. After a time of worship together, Mapile preached the main sermon. It was neat to see Mapile jumping into the ministry opportunities that he was given in Uganda. He preached twice at the local Wesleyan Church, and both times the Lord really used him to share challenging messages. Mapile also had the opportunity to help Dad teach an Old Testament class to 15 Ugandan pastors.

Mapile teaching class with his interpreter, Tom

On New Years Day our nephew, Caleb Jonathan Cromer, was born in Marion, Indiana! It was so fun to be with Mom and Dad when we got the news that my brother and sister-in-law had a baby. Mom and I had really hoped that we could be together to hear the news, so it was a big blessing for us.

We headed back to Swaziland on January 2^nd.

Since we’ve been back we’ve been settling into life here. Mapile is now on staff at the Bible College, so he’s been busy in staff meetings, library work, preparing for classes, and such. He’s also going to driving school, which is so exciting since we have a car now!

I am still waiting on my work situation, but I'll keep you updated when I do start workin

Well, otherwise I’ll update you with some photos...

It was such a blessing to have my cousin, Rebecca, visit from Nairobi!
Rebecca and I have spent many Christmases together in Michigan with her parents,
so it was fun to spend our first Christmas together in Africa this time.