Off We Go | A New Mission Post #1

January 4 – 5, 2023

I woke up on Wednesday morning to a winter wonderland. After a brief time of marveling, I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes shoveling wonder. I commend the city of Hudson for the great job of clearing off twelfth street. I wasn’t as excited for the pile waiting for me at the end of the driveway. Our plane was on time and we (Mike Evans, Stu Dix and myself) needed to be as well. Brian Nelson was kind to see us to MSP-he only had to engage the four-wheel- drive briefly on the way. 

I am currently sitting in the plane in Amsterdam, waiting to take off and land at Kilimanjaro Airport in Africa and on to Entebbe, Uganda. Airline travel is up, evidenced by the full planes to Boston, Amsterdam, and now this flight. Stu and I were in row 35 last flight. It was announced that rows 20-35 did not have functioning media, so no movies for eight hours (I wonder if Paul and Silas had to face such challenges on their journeys!) I made some progress on my John Grisham novel, played some solitaire, and got a bit of sleep. The lady next to me had a 1-2 year old on her lap and he was incredible the whole flight. They are heading to Uganda as well.

We are on our way to do a “taster” event, where we will give an abbreviated training for a group of pastors from South Sudan. We hope to give them a window of what to expect to see if they are willing to make a three-year commitment for future training. This would happen in conjunction with Four Corners Ministries, who will host the event, and our little team from western Wisconsin. If all three groups agree to move forward, we will be back. If not, this will likely be the last time I make it to the Pearl of Africa. I have much to learn about this group and will report more in future posts. 

The traveling is a bit of a grind, but I am so thankful for the opportunity ahead of us. I am still amazed that I can leave snowy MSP and twenty-five hours later land in Uganda. People file in a tube and leave the ground, flying over the Atlantic, eating a beef stew meal (pretty good). We will then drive across the country, ending in one hundred-degree heat! Maybe I can start making progress toward 2023 weight loss goals.

Please pray that God will grant us clarity as to our next steps. I hope we get to move forward, but if God is not in this next phase, I’m happy to stay in St. Croix County with you all.

 

Larry Szyman

Pastor for Missional Life