Dear friends and family, Its hard to believe that weve now lived in Uganda for over 2 months

now. I think the biggest challenge to our family thus far has been relational loss and distance (and the challenges of poor network/internet connections). We have done pretty well (or so I think) with the many cultural, social, and environmental changes that we have encountered. We are enjoying learning new Lubwisi words and Babwisi customs/traditions. We truly enjoy receiving emails, texts (we can send/receive iMessages), and phone calls (via iPhone apps mainly). We have been thrilled to open cards, letters, and/or care packages that have been sent from many of you! The kids are doing very well and are enjoying playing with their new Ugandan neighbors and friends. They both look forward to attending school and then getting outdoors after theyre done with their homework. I put up a seated rope tree swing for them in our new back yard a few nights ago. They have made the most of it since it has been up. We will finally be moving into our permanent home soon! The back yard is going to be great for our kids! They both miss their friends and continue to make regular mention of them throughout the day and in their prayers. Update on Williams night terrors: I think he has had maybe 1 or 2 brief terrors (in the last week) since the day we sent that prayer requestso please keep up the prayers since theyre working! Holly has done an excellent job of keeping our family well fed and cared for - despite the many challenges including power outages and spoiled food due to loss of refrigeration! She has made some excellent meals despite limited resources and access to ingredients. She has enjoyed getting out and meeting people in the community and worshipping at the local church. She just finished playing hostess to a small team from our home church (Oak Mtn Church) that stayed in our soon to be new home last Tuesday - Thursday. We were all encouraged and renewed by the teams visit. We were blessed with the opportunity to partake in communion together while they were here. Our hearts lifted as they landed and sank as they lifted off our grass airstrip. We hope others may be able to make it this way over time! Please be in prayer for an event that Rhett is helping with Monday (1/20) and Tuesday (1/21). Rhett is partnering with a few local pastors and an entity in Kampala (that provides wheelchairs to people with disabilities) to assess people in 4 nearby communities over the next 2 days for their need for a wheelchair or crutches. The event has been announced on the radio and publicized by the pastors. There will be a big delivery event on February 10th that he will also be helping with. Please pray for the following: That people with disabilities and needs for wheelchairs/crutches would hear of the opportunity and show up (that their families would help get them to one of the locations where I will be assessing) That God would grant me kindness, patience, compassion, wisdom, and encouraging words as I interact with these people and their families (and the pastors). That I would have eyes to see and a tongue to call out the beauty that resides within the people that will be brought for this equipment and that might encourage the people and the families and pastors in caring for them. That this will open opportunities to share the Gospel and while opening doors to the church that have not been so inviting in the past.

That people would realize their value and identity is found in Christ aloneand not in their physical beauty/attributesand that they were made to demonstrate and reflect the goodness, beauty, and appearance of God Himself. That this would open doors for follow-up care and interactions with individuals not only in need of a wheelchair, but also those that could benefit from therapeutic interventions and/or education.

Please also be praying for a smooth transition (moving all of our boxes/bags/things) to our new home and safe travels to/from Kampala (for restocking) over the next few weeks. We hope to provide additional updates and prayer requests soon! UPDATE (Thursday): The community assessments went fairly well overall. It was good to work through the local church and their leadership for this project. I saw many challenging situations and heartbreaking conditions including: paralysis/weakness from polio, sickle cell disease, hydrocephalus, club foot deformities, blindness, epilepsy, stroke, and a likely case of leprosy. It was a privilege to meet, assess, and pray with the people (and sometimes their families who carried them in) and I am now hoping and praying that I can help facilitate the acquisition/delivery of needed equipment and other resources through a Ugandan run organization in Kampala. There are some that I will now follow-up with to treat on a recurring basis. Our last location on Tuesday was the refugee camp that was set up this past summer for Congolese refugees fleeing due to a rebel attack on their village. It was hard walking around knowing the pain, loss, and beyond difficult circumstances the people there had faced and continue to struggle with. I was amazed to see a group of boys smiling and laughing as they all ran around playing with hand made sling shots they had crafted themselves. I took a pic of them all pointing them at me with their cheshire grins! Ill send or post when I have the bandwidth to do so! It was interesting to visit Bubandi (which is a border town with the Congo) on Monday afternoon. There were children there (as there were in a village I recently visited to see a child with special needs) that had literally never seen a white skinned person before. There were a few who were absolutely terrified and others who were intrigued. To say the least, I felt a bit awkward and out of place. Last night I had a leader from the youth (youth here is older teen into 30s - or anyone not married that is under 40 and not a child!) approach me asking for teaching on marriage (for a group of 6-8 young men). I am trying to figure out what that might look like and how I might fit that into my schedule (or should I say program as they all it here). I told him I could teach what the Bible says, but still have a lot to learn to be culturally relevant! Please continue to pray for clarity, wisdom, patience, and understanding as we are building relationships in community, continuing to learn culture, parenting our children and trying to care for each other in the midst of major transition, and trying to establish daily/weekly patterns/plans (where possible). Blessings and peace, Rhett, Holly, Elizabeth, and William Wheeler World Harvest Mission PO Box 1142 Bundibugyo, Uganda