Home, Sweet Home

Wow! Things are happening fast! We are busy packing (well, I am busy packing) everything we plan on taking with us for the next 3.5 months. It is becoming very real and comforting to be heading back to a familiar place. Praise God! We have a BIG praise report to share from this past week. As Tim was looking up hotels to stay at in Gulu while we find our new home, he came across a posting for a 2 bedroom apartment in town. He emailed the contact listed and it turned out to be a missionary who had left Uganda in January and would not be returning due to health issues. After a delightful conversation, and seeing pictures, we felt this was the place!

The missionary was hoping to sell all of her furnishings (pots, pans, gas oven, beds, dressers, etc), so we were delighted to take them off her hands. We will still need to purchase a few items while we are in Kampala before heading up to Gulu... but this certainly helps us out! We also bought the generator from her (you have to buy every appliance and piece of furniture), which means we will have back up power when it goes out! There is a nice big yard for Silas to have a little freedom and a garden ready for us to plant in. Yay! This is the place we've been praying for. The most amazing thing is, the apartment is half of what we had budgeted for! We have finalized the plans with the landlord and are very excited to have a place to move into as soon as we enter Gulu. Please continue to cover us in prayer as we board the plane this coming Monday, June 20th.

Thank you for your love and support.
Blessings,
Janessa (Tim & Silas)

May Update

View this email in your browser 2 WEEKS UNTIL UGANDA We’re excited to share with you that we have our tickets! We’ll be leaving Pennsylvania on June 20th and arriving in Uganda the 21st. Its been a busy couple of months for us. We’ve finished Janessa’s immigration paperwork, moved out of our apartment, sold most of what filled it, traveled down to Pennsylvania, and started prep for our move to Uganda. Its been a long time coming and now it is coming FAST! Thank you to everyone for all your encouragement, support and prayers during this busy time in our lives. We’re excited to start this part of our journey with so many people joining with us! We’ll make sure we don’t miss any more monthly updates (the end of April beginning of May was pretty hectic) and we’ll start posting lots more updates on our blog once we arrive in Uganda. FINANCIAL UPDATE Last week we went to apply for social security numbers for Janessa and Silas as new residents to the US. Our goal was to continue checking things off of our to do list and move on to the next thing, but God had other plans. We were called up to the window to submit our paperwork and through the course of conversation, we began sharing our heart for Uganda with the clerk. As we were waiting for the last bit of paperwork, the gentleman at the window next to us, having overheard our conversation, turned and gave us $20. When we finished our paperwork the clerk who was helping us handed us his email address asking us to keep him posted on our ministry so that his church could be praying for us. It’s pretty amazing how God finds ways to encourage us through all the busyness and stress of this transition. We’ve been so blessed by all the encouragement we’ve received and are roughly 1/3 of the way to our monthly support goals! On top of that we’ve received numerous one time gifts that will cover this first trip and many of the things we need to purchase at the beginning such as furniture. If you’d like to join our support team please email us at cyphersinuganda@gmail.com and we can send you the forms to get things set up. BETWEEN THREE HOMES With all the packing, storing and selling, we have officially said goodbye to our home. Well, one of our homes. Saying our goodbyes has left a deep ache in our hearts. Leaving family and friends is a very difficult part of this transition for us. We have been blessed to be surrounded by those who love and support our family, and have encouraged us as we prepare to make our new home far across the ocean. But it’s hard. It’s been said “home is where the heart is” and if that is true, than we are caught between three homes. We are calling this year our “nomadic” year, a year of transition and resettling. While we do have many adjustments to be made ahead we are excited for what the Lord has been preparing us for. We ask you to continue praying for us as we take the next step in our journey home to Uganda. PRAYER POINTS For a smooth transition to Uganda, Africa For partners to connect with us through prayer and finances God's direction and divine connections PRAISE REPORT The completion of the immigration process We are almost there! We will continue to keep you updated with monthly newsletters. For more updates, check out our blog http://cyphersinuganda.blogspot.com or click the orange blog link below. Copyright © 2016 THE CYPHERS We would love to hear from you! E-mail us at: cyphersinuganda@gmail.com CANADA: Attn: The Cyphers Heartstrings World Mission 430 Lakewood Blvd Winnipeg, MB R2J 4B6 USA: Attn: The Cyphers Harvest Alliance International 3620 Ocean Ranch Blvd Oceanside, CA 92056 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

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March Update

UPDATED ROAD MAP

After lots of paperwork, waiting, more paperwork and more waiting we’re in the last phase of the immigration process for Janessa to get permanent residency in the US.  The last step we need to complete will be an interview for Janessa at the US Consulate in Montreal on May 12^th.  The best part about finally having a date for the completion of this process is that now we can set a more specific timeline in place for going to Uganda.  A few days after the interview we’ll travel down to Pennsylvania where we’ll stay for just over a month before going to Uganda in mid-June.  We’ll stay in Uganda until the fall when we’ll travel back to Pennsylvania to share our vision and build our support base.  The goal of this initial trip of only about four months will be to learn the language, reconnect with churches and ministries in Gulu, and prepare our long term budget both for us personally and for the ministry.  It will be a lot to do in a short amount of time which is why we’ve been getting a head start on our language learning while still at home.  After a visit up to Winnipeg for Christmas, Lord willing we’ll be heading back to Uganda the beginning of next year.

    

INTRO TO OUR ORGANIZATIONS

In order for us to serve as missionaries in Uganda we’ll have two missionary sending organizations that we’ll be working through.  These two organizations are Heartstrings World Mission (in Canada) and Harvest Alliance (in the US).  We’re blessed to have these two ministries be our encouragement and supervision for our ministry in Uganda.  We have been apart of Heartstrings World Mission for a number of years and it is based out of our home church in Winnipeg, Bethel Community Church. We were introduced to Harvest Alliance by a missionary friend from our time in Uganda, Stacey Syrocki.  They are based out of southern California and have dozens of missionaries all over the world.  We are excited to have these two organizations praying for us, helping guide us, encouraging us and holding us accountable as we serve in Uganda. 

VISION FOR SERVING

A snapshot of the beauty in Northern Uganda

Uganda is a beautiful country filled with beautiful people.  Statistics show that 75-85% of the population in Uganda identifies as Christian.  This statistic might make it seem strange for us to go there as missionaries but that stat alone doesn’t give the most accurate picture of the situation.  There are many Christians in Uganda, but there are many who live in villages where there isn’t a church close enough to attend.  They may identify as Christians but they aren’t able to fellowship together to grow in their relationship with God.  Some attend churches that are run by pastors who love God, but have never been trained or discipled as to how to shepherd over their flock.  They have hearts to serve God but often don’t know how to move beyond receiving Christ to living for him daily.  Others identify as Christians but when problems arise in their life visit witch doctors to help them.  The reason for this is that they don’t view Christ as exclusive.  He is one of multiple gods that have different powers.  Still others receive Christ at evangelism events and their relationship with God doesn’t go any further.  Our vision is to disciple pastors so that they can disciple their church members into a relationship with God that goes beyond simply receiving salvation into living for his glory and in his love every day.

PRAYER POINTS

For partners to connect with us through prayer and finances

For the final stage of the immigration process to be completed

For understanding and persevering through learning Acholi

We would love to hear from you!

E-mail us at:
cyphersinuganda@gmail.com