Uganda car

This is the car we bought a few weeks ago.















These are my African grandchildren, Emmanuel, Charity, and Joseph, along with their parents, Charles and Caroline Okongo

Honduras flooding

Tropical Storm Gamma
The gamma storm left Honduras devastated again. Some were killed, and 11 thousand people were evacuated. Progreso, near San Pedro Sula, was especially hard hit.
I talked with Pastor Oscar in La Ceiba, and he said that his house was flooded, and he had to build up a retaining wall that fell.
In Saba, a pastor had heavy damage to his home.
I've helped some, but can't do a whole lot now because of other commitments. But if you want to help you can donate online at charitybox.com/hf
I'll be in Honduras in February.

Uganda unrest

A probable presidential candidate, Besigye, was arrested and put in jail, causing unrest in Uganda. He is charged with treason, and among other things, rape. He laughed at the rape charge, perhaps because rape is so common in Africa that they hardly consider it a crime.
There have also been student strikes at the Makarere University.

Iowa

I had an interesting weekend, visiting a conference for Living Waters ministry, a group that helps society's outcasts in Illinois.
Then I was in two churches associated with my friend Jim Hartman. One is a community church in Whitten, Iowa and the other the Assembly of God in Conrad, Iowa. The preaching (on the servant song in Isaiah 49) seemed to be well received

Uganda

Steve Fitzpatrick is on his way to Uganda, where he will meet McElvain and teach in Kitgum. Mac is already there and is teaching in Gulu this week. Murphy and Eudy are in Bugiri teaching, and will go on to Kenya next week. I would guess that among the four teachers, we will teach about 500 preachers during this two week period

Phillip and Ingrid

This was at Phillip's room at the University of Vermont a couple of weeks ago. 

AGIF

I was at the AGIF conference in Norwalk Connecticut. (Assemblies of God International Fellowship, an independent ministers group of which I am one of the elders) I asked some people what they liked about it, and the response was "fellowship." The leaders sat at the table with everybody else, and they were accessible.
There are preachers who have a need to communicate with peers, rather than competing for denominational positions. We saw that happening again, as it always does in our conferences. George Ekeroth has proven to be a good leader, and Dale Collins has been a good editor and advisor. This is not the direction I thought the fellowship would follow when Ted Lanes died, but I'm pleased with the result. There is a divine hand guiding us.

back from the east

Ingrid and I were together on a driving trip to Vermont and Maine, with Jack the dog and Tess the cat. We pulled our little camper.
We visited with Phillip at the university and then went to Acadia National Park, with its wonderful scenes along the "stern and rockbound coast" of Maine.
We were gone for two weeks.
I'll go back east for a convention in Connecticut, and return on Saturday.
Here is Phillip and Tess outside our little camper.

stormy night

Mattsson-Boze
We had straight line winds and heavy rain last night. A big tree or two fell down into the small forest behind our house. Not far away two homes were destroyed. Hundreds of trees have fallen, many of them a hundred years old. We were without power for about 4 hours.
Now you hear chain saws all over the neighborhood, and people are acting like real Minnesotans, cleaning up the mess.

Sara Gonzalez

Mattsson-Boze
Sara died on September 1, and was buried in Sweden. Jose was there with her. She was a courageous and diligent missionary who often climbed the mountains to minister in remote places. She inspired many young people to go into missionary work.
She had struggled with cancer for the past couple of years.
I was able to have Hans Larsson represent me at the funeral. He had already been asked to sing. I wanted to go, but I had sent my passport in for renewal, and was without it.
Sara was an early missionary to Patagonia, and there are still many people who came to faith through her trip when she was young back in the 1950's.

Job's friends comment on New Orleans

Some people are reacting to the hurricane by calling it God's judgment. They didn't do that when Grand Forks flooded due to a lack of systems to protect it. Funny, isn't it? Grand Forks gets sympathy; New Orleans gets judgmentalism.
Barbara Bush managed to see the cynical bright side for the victims, and will probably be forever remembered by that. It reminds me of Ann Richards' comment on her son, "born with a silver boot in his mouth." It's too bad that her image becomes so tarnished, because she is such a likable lady.
Jesus' reaction to such tragedies was, "unless you repent, you shall likewise perish."

katrina

Of course, my daughter's name is Katrina. There was a previous tropical storm with her name as well, but now I suppose she is getting a lot of teasing for causing so much trouble.
Doug Smiley called the other day to let me know that about 40 Garifuna people from New Orleans are camped out at a Garifuna church in Houston. He has helped them, but I haven't been able to because of some anticipated expenses in Uganda.
There are Garifuna chuches in Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, New York, Miami, and I think in Los Angeles. Doug has kept in contact with them as well as with Belize, while I have concentrated more on the Garifuna in Honduras.

empty nest

Phillip left for the University of Vermont this morning. The weather cooperated by raining all night, causing us to be delayed to the airport so he had to take a later flight.

We're back!

Mattsson-Boze
The travel times are long, especially when you are coming back. But things went well on the trip. We were in Buenos Aires, that great city, in Salta (la linda, they call it, because of its location in the mountains), in Libertador General San Martin (which isn't pleasant at all), and in Cachi, high in the Andes after a beautiful trip that takes you up to 3500 meters as you follow the switchbacks up.
It was important to be there, especially in the absence of Jose and Sara Gonzalez. They are in Sweden, where it appears Sara is in her last days.
I'm quite concerned about the G12 system they are using in some of the churches. It's as if they have replaced biblical church structure with something a man received in a dream. I believe in eldership, not hierarchy. But there seems to be no room for biblical models in the g12 movement. They also put great emphasis on an initiation rite called encuentro, as if the church is some kind of secret society.
I hope we can see some progress toward an equilibrium.

Argentina

Mattsson-Boze
On Friday, Phillip and I go to Buenos Aires. We have a teaching in Jose C. Paz on Saturday evening, and two meetings (Flores and Insuperable) on Sunday.
We are tourists on Monday, and go to Salta on Tuesday. From there we will be in Libertador and later in Cachi. We will be in Salta itself on the weekend.

Rahab

Mattsson-Boze
Last Sunday I preached on the Faith of Rahab at Anoka Covenant. I was surprised at the laugh I got when I said, "I wish she had been a schoolteacher or a nurse." The point is that Rahab acted on what she believed (that history was flowing with the Israelites, and they were going to conquer). Rahab turned from her prostitution, married, and was integrated literally into the history of Israel and the body of Christ. She welcomed the spies instead of rejecting them.
So Faith welcomes and protects God's messengers. Faith sees the future and acts in accordance with it. Faith leaves the life of sin behind. Faith takes hold of the "scarlet thread"--that is, it trusts in the blood of Christ. Faith integrates itself with the people of God.

Back from Honduras

Hot and hotter.
But I got a lot done in Honduras. It was gratifying when a woman (with blue hair!) talked to me about the advice I had given her about her daughter on a previous trip. The girl had been ensnared by a cultic group, and the mother had been pestering her. I told her to lay off and pray instead. The daughter was back within two weeks, and has resisted the efforts of the other group to re-enlist her. I had forgotten about the situation. It was nice to hear that God helped them.
The correspondence school has over 300 students, and they seem real serious about their theology. Several have gotten bachelor's certificates through an American school, and I reviewed the books they use. They are serious, and require good thinking. I spoke in their annual convocation, giving 3 one hour sessions.
We reviewed the social projects, and have decided to pull back on our nurse and our gardens coordinators. These projects have run for a long time, and we think they have produced change. But now people need to take responsibility themselves. The government has also increased their health presence in the communities. We will continue to provide medicines in the village medicine cabinets and also seeds for gardens. The sewing project will continue. We see more spiritual results from the sewing schools.
I'm planning to return in February. I expect to work with at least 4 different groups over a period covering 3 Sundays.
We had an especially effective meeting in Corozal, in the Garifuna church. The electricity had gone out, so we were in candlelight and couldn't "preach". But God helped me to tell some missionary stories and then present a challenge to respond to God's call. The church was quiet. Usually I have to struggle with children's noise. But evidently the darkness and the softness of the situation had a calming and receptive effect that can only be described as precious.

Preaching

Mattsson-Boze
I will preach at the Bible Church in Oskaloosa Iowa in the morning on July 10. Doug Smiley is the pastor.
In the evening I will preach at one of two churches that Jim Hartman pastors. He lives in Union, Iowa.
On July 17 I will preach (on Rahab the Harlot) at Anoka Covenant Church.

Honduras

Mattsson-Boze
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I leave for Honduras. On Monday Bob Kallam will come and join me for meetings in the La Ceiba area. He will stay on with a team from his church doing a building project.

Switch to Argentina

Mattsson-Boze
Phil and I have canceled the Africa trip because of security issues and the fact the the costs were getting to be very very high. Instead, we are going to Argentina from July 29-August 13. We plan to be in Buenos Aires and the province, and then go north to Salta and Jujuy. We're hoping to have a youth conference one weekend because I want him to use his Spanish as much as possible.