Rattins living Coram Deo

We are in a new era of missions. Facebook, Voxer (our current favorite), Skype, Google Hangouts, Magic Jack, blogs... We can stay in touch with our families in real time.  They can be here in 30 hours (best case scenario).  We could be there in 30 hours (you know, if all our children has passports and stuff - little details). In the past year, nearly every missionary that I know has had a parent visit. This is a different era of missions. Parents of missionaries live a unique life.  Their hearts are partially in a country they have never inhabited.  Their grandkids are growing in a culture foreign to their own.  They take a month off work and cross the globe with the goal of LITERALLY snuggling their grandchildren for 3 weeks straight. They drop their life to rush to the aid of their children in crisis - not unlike any parent in the West, except that such a selfless act costs thousands of dollars instead of a drive to New Hampshire. They encourage ...

No, our life is not a daily exotic adventure... but every day brings the unexpected. My day is much like yours - feed the family, clean the family, toilet the family, get the family places on time, and somewhere in there try to make the right choices about my priorities. But in the midst of attempted routine, every day brings a flare for the dramatic.  You can count on nothing - will there be power? will there be water? will there be ink for the printer, petrol for the car, gas for the stove? will someone you're counting on to show up actually show up and show up when you are expecting them? who will show up at your doorstep right when your child decides to disobey? I can't even describe all the things that "go wrong" in a given day - it almost sounds unbelievably ridiculous some days.  No one would believe us. And yet these adventures are such a blessing, such a gift.  If I ever thought I was in control before, now I KNOW that I am not.  In the past, I may h...

We get to be on the front lines. Even in our role of equipping our Ugandan counterparts to minister, we're still much more on the front lines than our sending churches. We have the privilege of figuring out how to help that starving child and his family directly.  We have the opportunity to pick up the snotty child and share dirt.  We get to pray with that woman as her husband dies of AIDS.  We get to choose, quite literally, if we will eat meat this week or instead feed meat to the orphans under our care. For most of you who read my blog, you live vicariously through us.  And WE get the privilege of having a very direct effect on our community, on the community that you pray for, that you give financially for, that you teach your children about. What a blessing and immense privilege for us! I'm not saying it's easy to be on the front lines.  In fact, historically, missionaries have been so moved by the desperate situations that they face, that we have c...

You can see God's hand anywhere AND everywhere. But on the mission field, you find yourself more dependent than ever on God and his grace.  We have the privilege of seeing his work first hand.  His protection, his grace, his mercy, his providence, his blessings, his sanctifying processes... We have less things in our lives to distract us from seeing his hand.  We are totally immersed in ministry - as an entire family.  We try to have social events with people outside of our ministries, but most of our time is spent with our co-workers in ministry.  Most of our friends are our Acholi friends who minister with us.  Most of our conversations are about ministry and about how God is working.  As we talk nonstop about things of God, it becomes so very apparent that HE is a great God! There is nothing predictable about life here.  When there is power, we praise God! When there is water, we praise God! When there is not, we praise God... or seek to ...

I've written about some missionary struggles.  They are not unique to missionaries, but will give you some ideas for how to pray for your missionaries. Now, the blessings... but WHERE to start? The blessings of obeying God are infinite and beyond our imagination... Being a missionary is about bringing people to God.  It's not about a project, although there can be projects.  It's not about numbers, goals, or accomplishments.  It's about people and relationships and, ultimately, relationship with God. So, I start with the people - these are the biggest blessing, for sure.  Josh's days are spent pouring into those that God has put under his leadership.  He has the privilege of equipping Ugandans to lead the ministries and lead their churches.  These men encourage Josh tremendously with their hunger for God and for the TRUTH of GOD's word.  I'm blessed to be able to serve them cookies and coffee when they meet at our home! We get to wor...

Death to self. We don't mind death to self.  We feel honored to share just a tiny bit in Christ's suffering. But chocolate cookies and lasagna... now that would be nice. A quick meal and a dishwasher... running water and electricity.  Running to the store and knowing that you'll find a desired ingredient.  Fast food for those days on the road.  A straight answer and a fair price. Somewhere to buy your food that doesn't involve fly-covered meat, open stares, haggling, and harassment... No animals wandering through the house, no snakes lurking in the tall grass... medical care available for your family, vaccines, quick answers, thorough tests... On a good day, these things mean nothing.  Just conveniences, luxuries! But on a stressful day, on a bone-weary day, on that day where all the children are falling apart at the same time... during that night when the house is finally quiet... but is too quiet... On those days, the missionary lifestyle can be a ...

Although there's a group of 700 people backing us from the USA (mostly), few of those individuals and churches can truly understand the daily stressors on the field.  There are currently around 6 missionary families in Gulu - the number changes monthly.  Each family is deeply involved in ministries - often very consuming ministries.  There are missionaries all over the world struggling with a similar issue: a sense of isolation. Missionaries sometimes feel isolated in their struggles.  Some missionaries struggle to find a Bible-preaching church or ARE the only source of Bible teaching in a given field.  Some missionaries find that their sending agency doesn't understand the issues on the field and gives them directives that they cannot follow.  Some missionaries struggle to find friends that they can confide in. Pray for your missionaries that they would trust in the sufficiency of Christ, that they would rest in the finished work of Christ, and that Go...

We've been on the field for nearly a year and a half - feels like only months and yet a lifetime... We've missed countless birthday parties and a few funerals.  We have yet to lay eyes on two new nephews and a few "pseudo" nieces and nephews.  We aren't involved in the day-to-day lives of our families.  We don't get to go see a house that sister is considering buying.  We haven't met the new boyfriend.  We don't get to help clean up mom and dad's yard after the big storm or shovel out the car for them. Our children are growing up without family bearing witness.  We left the USA when our second youngest child was still a baby.  He will visit the USA as a talking child complete with his own well developed personality.  We'll visit the USA in a few years with two new children who will experience the USA and our friends and family for the first time. This separation from family is so difficult.  Missionaries miss weddings, funerals, babies,...

Many of you read my blog to get a glimpse into what it's like to be a missionary family.  I want to write a series of blogs on the struggles of being a missionary as well as the blessings of being a missionary.  I will, by no means, be able to cover all struggles and blessings... but my hope is that this series will give you a glimpse into how to pray for your missionaries.  You may find that missionary struggles and blessings are no different from yours! One of the biggest struggles that missionary families share in common is protecting their children on the field.  Even an area that is no more dangerous than inner-city Chicago is foreign and the dangers are unknown. Diseases are serious and unknown.  Medical care is often lacking.  Parents have to be everything for their children instead of parents being able to pass some things off to others.  Parents have to decide when to vaccinate their children and for what and sometimes have to give them th...

My sister in law and her husband are traveling "home" today from Colorado to New Hampshire. Our teammates' daughter and her husband are traveling to Uganda today from the USA to be "home" with the rest of the family - all together for Christmas. Our friends here are traveling to their villages to be home for the holiday week.  For a Ugandan, home is where the family is.  Our baby is named "Otim," meaning "born away from home" because he was born away from our family home (the USA). And our dear adopted grandma in the USA has just traveled home - for the last time - to her eternal home.  She is celebrating Christmas with the origin of life this year.  She is home, where Christ is celebrated every day. Is that the home you're longing for this Christmas? Are you teaching your children to long to be home with Christ? Is that a higher priority in your family than wrapping the gifts and baking gingerbread? I fail at that daily and rel...

I'm trying to make peppermint patties tonight.  Something I never would have even considered doing in the USA.  Something that was outside the realm of reality this time last year.  This time last year in Gulu, there was VERY limited electricity, no cheese, and I couldn't figure out how to bake with the local sugar. Our Christmas feast last year was... creative... a lot of hard work... and NOT like "home!" But what a luxury - that I can have someone send me peppermint extract and chocolate chips, I can buy powdered sugar... We spent the day at our friend's village, visiting with her, her family of orphans that she has taken in, and two of the Home of Love children with special medical needs.  We ate a feast and delighted in hearing her testimony of God's grace and provision in her life.  Her home is full of love, mercy, and joy.  Her home is bursting at the seams with clean, happy, Christ-loving children and teenagers who delight in having her as their ...

He ran away from home.  Walked MILES.  Showed up at the gate after walking to a friend's village to check on her. Imagine being placed with your "family" that you have never known.  This is your family.  Know and love them.  Trust them to care for you.  See you later! Obviously, this is not a recipe for success.  It's not an ideal way to raise a child. But we aren't equipped as a team to do any better right now.  Our goal is to unite all of our children with a family, a home.  Most can go to their relatives. So, one of our most important learning goals this year is to learn how to assess a family situation, how to prepare a child and the family for placement, how to follow-up, how to determine if the child is safe and thriving in their new situation... and the list goes on. Pray for us as we learn - pray for our Ugandan staff (especially Bosco and Ruth, our social workers) and our missionaries as we learn together, struggle through ...

The government requires all eligible orphans to be sent to relatives over Christmas holiday.  Seems a bit strange at first.  If the child lives in an orphanage instead of with relatives and yet has relatives who are able to care for the child for a month out of the year... then why does the child live in an orphanage? But that is very much the reality of the orphan situation in Uganda. Families were torn apart by the war in the North (where we live).  Children living on the streets of Gulu to escape capture by the rebels.  Parents killed.  Aunts and Uncles displaced.  There was a definite need for children's homes. But now, the region is stable.  And children need to grow up in families, not in institutions.  Some families are ready to step up and care for yet another orphan, some aren't.  Nearly every family in the region already cares for orphans.  Some widowed parents remarried and the new spouse is less than interested in takin...

I have a strand of gaudy colorful blinking Christmas lights this year.  And electricity to run them some nights.  Last year, I couldn't even figure out how to find paper to cut our snowflakes in the dark. I have five children this year - last year I had three. Josh is director over all the ACTION ministries in Gulu this year - last year we were trying to figure out how to buy tomatoes and drive on the left side of the road.  I failed at five different attempts to make fudge.  I couldn't find cheese or vanilla in Gulu. So much changes in a year. Especially this year. I've hit the wall - mix of culture shock (shock is hardly the word), extreme stress, repeated threats against our team and ministries, five young (needy) children, and ... you name it! And it's Christmas-time. Normally, I would have been the first to decorate my home for Christmas.  This year, we have been so busy to the max, that my tiny partially decorated Christmas tree is propped in...