The Eidens are heading back to America. That's right folks, we have our return date: March 15. Well, that is our departure date. We won't get back to Hays until the 17th, so here's to three days of traveling! There has been a whole lot of prayer and thought put into this, and we feel that God has blessed us with confirmation. How do we feel about this? I can best describe it as bittersweet. We are thrilled to be closer to family and friends, and all the comforts of home. At the same time, we’re sad to be leaving Uganda and all of our new friends here. But, as we always strive to do, we are seeking God first, and we are confident that this is when He is leading us home.
So, what does that mean for this family? Beyond the departure date, not much. We aren’t sure where God is leading, but we are confident that our time in Uganda is coming to an end (at least for now). There have been some big developments in our life in the last couple of months, so let me (Nick) fill you in.
In November, I felt God's call to ministry. I know that God is leading me to work as some sort of pastor, but the specifics, including a location, have yet to be revealed. I have been given the opportunity to preach several times, as well as lead a Bible study, and form some pastorish relationships. I love this stuff! It is becoming clear to me that this is what I was made for. I have started seminary online, and it is going great! If all goes as planned, I will have a Masters of Divinity (sounds fancy, right?) by the end of 2015. We are excited to get going on this next phase of ministry. We are heading back to Hays, Kansas for now, and will go as The Lord leads. So, as soon as God blesses us with an instruction about what to do and where to do it, we’re on it! Things are a little up in the air until that happens, but hey – if we can move to Uganda, we can do about anything! God literally can’t take us any further from home (or out of our comfort zone!)
Recently, I was able to video-chat with two of our pastors, Brant and Kyle, and they had some key advice for us: "stay until your work is finished." As Sarah and I both pondered and prayed through that wisdom, we realized that most of the things we had set out to accomplish have been. Sarah has been working with and training her replacement for the a.k.a. Hope school. The new teacher is ready to go, and has taken over the class. Several of the improvements to the school have been implemented, including access to clean water and the regular use of books, with Sarah leading the charge! My efforts with Kyampisi Childcare Ministries and Kyampisi Community Church are wrapping up. I have gone through all the case files and done what I can do to help with the investigations. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out http://kyampisi.org/?page_id=133 for more information.)
Also, we think that God may have planned all this out from the beginning. We never had a firm departure date. We felt that we were to spend about a year here, which we are approaching. Due to the airlines only scheduling flights out less than a year, the latest return flights we could book were March 15. We knew that we could change them, for a fee of about $800, so this was our plan. But now that we are nearing that date, it seems like this is when God wants us to fly home. So we are. Goodbye Uganda, hello again America. We are about to see how much America changed while we are gone, or more likely how much we have changed.
So, what does that mean for this family? Beyond the departure date, not much. We aren’t sure where God is leading, but we are confident that our time in Uganda is coming to an end (at least for now). There have been some big developments in our life in the last couple of months, so let me (Nick) fill you in.
In November, I felt God's call to ministry. I know that God is leading me to work as some sort of pastor, but the specifics, including a location, have yet to be revealed. I have been given the opportunity to preach several times, as well as lead a Bible study, and form some pastorish relationships. I love this stuff! It is becoming clear to me that this is what I was made for. I have started seminary online, and it is going great! If all goes as planned, I will have a Masters of Divinity (sounds fancy, right?) by the end of 2015. We are excited to get going on this next phase of ministry. We are heading back to Hays, Kansas for now, and will go as The Lord leads. So, as soon as God blesses us with an instruction about what to do and where to do it, we’re on it! Things are a little up in the air until that happens, but hey – if we can move to Uganda, we can do about anything! God literally can’t take us any further from home (or out of our comfort zone!)
Recently, I was able to video-chat with two of our pastors, Brant and Kyle, and they had some key advice for us: "stay until your work is finished." As Sarah and I both pondered and prayed through that wisdom, we realized that most of the things we had set out to accomplish have been. Sarah has been working with and training her replacement for the a.k.a. Hope school. The new teacher is ready to go, and has taken over the class. Several of the improvements to the school have been implemented, including access to clean water and the regular use of books, with Sarah leading the charge! My efforts with Kyampisi Childcare Ministries and Kyampisi Community Church are wrapping up. I have gone through all the case files and done what I can do to help with the investigations. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out http://kyampisi.org/?page_id=133 for more information.)
Also, we think that God may have planned all this out from the beginning. We never had a firm departure date. We felt that we were to spend about a year here, which we are approaching. Due to the airlines only scheduling flights out less than a year, the latest return flights we could book were March 15. We knew that we could change them, for a fee of about $800, so this was our plan. But now that we are nearing that date, it seems like this is when God wants us to fly home. So we are. Goodbye Uganda, hello again America. We are about to see how much America changed while we are gone, or more likely how much we have changed.
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