Dan and Rosie Button - Uganda |
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Prayer Letter August 2008
Dear Everyone,
Thank you for your prayers over the last month. We hope you are enjoying the summer. Here it has been cool and cloudy for the last week which is pretty unusual. Dan likes it though!
There has finally been good news for Alfred Olwa, who was the Dean of Bishop Tucker (our theology department) ever since we have been here. He is off to Sydney, Australia, to study for his PhD at Moore College, something which has been in the works for over a year. He has a flight booked for 17th August. However he still has to pick up his visa – which means traveling to Nairobi since there is no Australian embassy in Kampala. Please pray that there will be no last-minute hitches (which can happen with visas…), so that he is able to get going with his PhD without any more delays. His wife Susan will be staying here and continuing her job as a warden for female students at the university. She hopes to make a trip to visit Alfred at some point during his studies. Please pray for them as a family, as Alfred leaves, and that he will settle in quickly and do well in his studies at Moore.
Meanwhile our good friend Olivia Banja (Rev Dr) has been appointed the new Dean of Bishop Tucker – which we are delighted about. It is a big role, and Olivia has two young children, so please pray for her. Her husband Moses is the Diocesan Secretary for Mukono Diocese so is also very busy. Olivia especially asks for prayer that the Lord will give guidance on the future direction Bishop Tucker should take. At the start of next term (September) she is planning to restructure things a bit in the department so that the many responsibilities are shared out. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for those discussions.
The students are having their last lectures this week and then exams begin next week. Next term the theology students will be away on their block placements, mostly in their home dioceses. Our Women in Ministry fellowship had the last meeting of the term on Monday, and I asked if I could share some of their prayer requests with you – to which they readily agreed:
Harriet is supposed to do her placement in her home diocese but her 6 yr old son (Emmanuel, a friend of Alex’s) is at school in Mukono, so she hopes to do a placement here in Mukono instead – but in that case she would also need the financial support to live here. Pray that something can be worked out for her. Barbara was a primary school teacher before she came to study here, and is praying for a teaching job for the September semester back at her old school, (for the income), although they have replaced her. Pamela is praying that her bishop will not tell her to do her block placement at the church where her mother who is also ordained works! Betty who is married with a big family is praying to do her placement in the church nearest to where her family lives, so that she can be at home with them after being away all term. (You can see the sacrifice that many of these women and their families make for their training.) She has suffered from bad health this term: she has recently had a tooth out and was still feeling a lot of pain – please pray that she will get a chance to rest and get fully better so that next term is easier for her. Juliet said she wants to spend the time living with her parents, so that she can do the housework and cook for them, since she hasn’t been able to all term. I have only mentioned a few of them but please pray for them all to have good times back with their families and that God would provide their needs over the next few months. Also that their placements would be times of fruitful ministry as well as positive learning experiences.
On the home front, Abigail and Alex have been thoroughly enjoying their school holiday. We have been able to have quite a few school friends out to Mukono for the day which has been good fun – everyone enjoys the green leafy campus and climbing through the woods to the hill top with its lovely views to Lake Victoria. In spite of the commute, we are very fortunate to live in this beautiful place. We are heading to England for a short visit in August, for a big celebration of several important though unmentionable birthdays. We are very much looking forward to seeing all our family in England again. Please pray for safe travels and happy reunions. Also pray for Amos as he heads up the Foundation Studies department while Dan is away – it is busy time with all the exams and marking to co-ordinate but he is very capable.
We hope you are all well, and thank you again for your support and prayers,
With our love and prayers,
Rosie Dan Abigail and Alex. xxxx