“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His faithful servants.” Ps 116:15 On August 18th, a significant event took place, in which a man who had discipled and cared for so many people, including myself, went to be with the One he was leading everyone toward. My father, Merlin R Davis, came to the Lord when he was in his 20’s, and soon after met and married my mother. After deciding that 2 children was enough, they were soon lead by the Lord to trust Him in faith for all things required for life and godliness, and to allow Him to plan their family. Only slightly less controversial than today, their decision and faith were certainly tested over the years as more and more children were given to them, and paychecks were spread thinner and thinner. But God provided for all their needs, and today, as number 11 out of 13 children, I can say I am thankful for their decision to trust God despite the comments and looks of others. We had a sign in our house which is still there today, it reads, “We don’t believe in miracles, we rely on them.” And for my family, this was true. My father worked 2 jobs and continued to trust in the Lord to provide the remainder of what was required for us to live. Once a week he would take one of us by turn to go get gas station icecream or coffee (or to eat out, once there were fewer kids in the house), we would sit together somewhere as he read through the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings books, and I was even able to hear him read through a book he had written himself. He was faithful to one wife, and faithfully cared for and taught all of us to fear the Lord. He was a carpenter, a locksmith, a piano tuner, he played guitar, sang, and wrote songs. In many ways he was as Abraham, the father of Israel, who walked with the Lord, who pleaded with the Lord on behalf of others, who cared for strangers and those in need. Even as his Alzheimer’s progressed, his character stayed generally the same, though I would venture to say he got even sweeter and was more in love with my mom than ever. In early August his condition worsened and eventually he would not eat or drink, but only sleep. They called me to say my goodbye, and I was able to pour out my heart of thankfulness for what he had done for me, to repent for my rebellion in my youth, and ultimately to congratulate him on the new ministry God has for him in heaven! It was a very bittersweet time on the phone. ...

“Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” Psalm 37:3 The lockdown has let up a bit here in Uganda, allowing Matt to travel down to Kampala with Luke to renew their visas. Praise God for travel ability AND approved visas! We have yet to travel down to finish the process of renewing the dependent visas for myself and the kids. On the Homefront, we have finished our first official semester of homeschooling. During our short break I am doing all sorts of planning, printing, gardening, writing, and anything else you can imagine a mother to get behind on during the school year. Since beginning homeschooling, I have scrambled to keep on top of the day-to-day tasks, forcing myself to knuckle down, make a schedule, and stick to it. Before, our life was always very flexible because of how unpredictable our days were. But now that our family has grown, we’ve started homeschooling, and Matt’s duties have become more “homebased”, a schedule was necessary. As much as I dislike being “bound” by something so menial, I feel as though I have a lot more free time now, and I’m accomplishing the same things and more in a day. ...

“In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.” 1 Timothy 4:6 Sadly Uganda has been hit hard with the second wave of the Corona Virus, and we have entered another strict lockdown. The past 16 months of confusion, pain, despondency and frustration have been the same for everyone around the world. Our team has felt the negative effects of this lockdown in that our Discipleship School has to be closed down, the arrival of our new teammate, David Buescher who is the brother of Luke Buescher, has been delayed and the team that was coming out with him has been canceled. It has also all but stopped our work visa renewal process which puts us in a precarious position. We are thankful however, that this time around most businesses have stayed open, and Uganda’s president hasn’t stopped any relief efforts. Traditional church gatherings have also been banned. Therefore, we have opened a small fellowship at our house and Luke has opened another at his. We praise God for the work that He has been doing through them. It is always great to see the way that God moves and people grow within intimate gatherings! ...

“You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:9b-10. God continues to show Himself faithful to our family as we continue depending on Him. We were relieved when after 21 long days we were finally freed from our quarantine to interact with the outside world. Our time to ourselves was really helpful as it freed us to focus on our family. The time was especially helpful for me as it allowed me to write out lesson plans for multiple books of the Bible, which has been one of my primary rolls since returning home. However, it wasn’t easy to watch so many things get stacked up on the “to do when we get out list”. The rush to catch up has been necessary and exhausting, and unfortunately our family’s health still isn’t completely back. But we are content in the arms of our omniscient Father. ...

“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21 April was a very trying month, but God has shown Himself faithful to supply His strength and presence according to His great grace. Noelle and I have been quarantined in our house for the past two weeks after contracting the Corona virus. We praise God that the fear of COVID here has really died down, so we aren’t receiving any threats. We also praise God that we are recovering well and we will soon be able to go out again. However, the virus has left us tired and weak. ...

“And He was saying to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” Luke 10:2 As a family we have invested a lot of our energy into reestablishing our home life here in Uganda. We know that we can’t win “away” when we are losing at home. It has been exactly a year since we were first displaced from our home in the Corona confusion. Although we spent time in our house since then, this past month was the first we truly felt the peace of a home base. As part of that we have officially started our children’s schooling and it’s crazy to us that we even have children that are old enough for school. Please pray for Noelle as she starts her new life as a teacher. ...

“Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom 15:5-6 We were blessed beyond words during our time with you in the United States, and now we are blessed to be back home in Uganda. We spent our last days in the U.S. meeting with many of you and speaking at events. Our prayer is that God will unite our hearts and voices together in prayer for our lost and dying world. May the Spirit of God bring revival both here and there to the glory of His own name, and may we each be obedient to do His will at the expense of our own. ...

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. Over our time in Nebraska it was a great joy to see our kids playing contentedly with their cousins, learning the names of SO MANY aunts and uncles, and getting to know my parents. When we were still living in America we did not get many opportunities for traveling to see my (Noelle) family, and even then the older girls were too young to remember. It was special for me to see them together with my family, as if they’d been with them all along though they’ve hardly known them. My dearest memories of our time in Nebraska are of our excited kids going on their “dates” with my mom and taking care to go love on their Papa: Noah climbing on his back (dad didn’t seem to mind); Emma leading dad around the house, taking great care to steer him due to his blindness; my dad, as progressed as he is in his Alzheimer’s, holding his cup by only his teeth and showing off to the little kids. And when he opened his normally closed eyes, looked straight at Maddie, and asked what she thought about it. She wasn’t sure what to think. I am thankful for God’s gift to us in the form of my family. I would find it hard to be on the field if they were not so behind us in our mission. Their love does not make me feel guilty for not staying longer (though time with them is always too short), their love frees me to GO! Not every missionary has a family supporting them in their calling, we are extremely blessed to have both families backing us. ...

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 About 2000 years ago God sent His only Son to redeem us from our enslavement to sin. Today we have hope and peace with God because of His life, death, resurrection and ascension. MERRY CHRISTMAS! ...

“For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:11-12 Our furlough continues to be the fulfilling of what Paul longed for, the opportunity to meet with and be encouraged together with so many brothers and sisters in the faith. We are always reminded of the ministry we have left in Uganda for this short time, and the work we have still remaining here in the US. Being here in America has been it’s own kind of ministry, one with it’s own reward, namely, the joy of being reunited with ones we have left long ago, and the strengthening of our faith as we see and hear testimonies of what God was doing while we were away. It has been a tremendous blessing to us. ...