UPDATES FROM - FEBRUARY 6-13

Hello family and friends!

I am sure all of you have heard that I am back in the states now! I arrived in Richmond last Wednesday after a 4 hour delay. I think it was for a security reason, but later found out that the airport people had the wrong information. I was upset, frustrated, and tired. By that time I had flown for about 16 1/2 hours and I just wanted to get home to my beautiful fiancee. To make a long story short, I ended sitting by an older woman who was really nice to talk to (She was in her earlier 80's and this was her first time flying without her husband) and made it to Richmond around 7:40 pm. It was so great to see Jamie!! I almost did not recognize her. She looked great!!! I am still trying to get accustomed to see "mzungus" every where. Worshiping with people at the YMCA in Bedford, VA (Bedrock Community Church) was a mixture of overwhelming and encouraging. However, I have to say that I am very glad to be back here in Lynchburg. I am also glad that I am back with my beautiful fiancee, Jamie Nicole Benedict!
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I did not have much time to give you all an update of the week of February 6-13. (I am going to be writing as if I am still in Uganda.) I hope everyone does not get confused. Here we go:

I am glad that the Bumgarner team is coming later on tonight (Feb 6). This week has been very hard! Right now I am the only one at the Guest House and it can be very lonely. God is there. God is here. Yeah I know that, but at times I feel like He is not there or here. I feel so empty right now. Like I said on my last blog, I am on EMPTY right now. I am DRAINED right now. I feel like I cannot give much more. That is why I am longing for the team to come. I am still having a difficult time here. Part of me does not understand why God wanted me here in Uganda for this amount of time, while Jamie is in the states living her own life.
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The Bumgarner team came in later Saturday night. There were 2 older couples with them. It was so much fun to listen to all of their stories. One of the couples were missionaries in Japan for 22 years W/O a furlough (Zane and Berma). Can you believe that? One of the couples had a ventriloquist ministry, which was pretty interesting (Bill and Karen). Then there was James and Marilyn! James was an old-time missionary evangelist and Marilyn was a nurse in the states. All of these people were such a great team. Bill and Karen went to about 30 secondary and primary schools to do their ministry. I went with them for a couple of them. To be honest, their ventriloquist ministry was a little too American for me, but none the less God moved and worked. It was very humbling to go to one of these primary schools. The headteacher or headmaster invited us 3 to his office and summoned one of the girls to bring everyone cookies and a soda (I had Mountain Dew, which just came to Uganda about a year ago). I felt very honored that the headmaster would serve us sodas and cookies. He later told us that eggs are being cooked for us. I thought they were going to be scrambled eggs, but later found out that they were hard boiled eggs. Once again I felt very honored that the headmaster would do that for us. However, I did not deserve that hospitality. None of us did! But in this culture, they are taught to respect visitors more than their own people. Interesting huh? James and Zane did a pastor's conference at the GSF chapel. I went to a couple of the meetings and found out what each letter in BAPTIST stood for. I can tell you that James was in his element. He enjoyed encouraging the pastors with God's Word. He just enjoyed being at GSF. Marilyn and Berma were supposed to meet with the pastor's wife, but there was only 1 woman there. We later found out that this woman said she was a pastor, interesting. Ben and I helped with lunch for the 7 or 8 pastors. It was fun serving them! During one of the afternoons Zane and I had a very interesting conversation. It started out okay, but ended up being a debate. We went from talking about the American church today to homosexuality to piercings to tattoos. I have no idea how all of this got brought up! I had to walk away because I was offended and actually got tired of talking or debating. I came up with this conclusion: Our grandparents generation needs us and my generation needs them! They need new and fresh ideas. We need wisdom and more wisdom. Even though I got my toes stepped on, it was very encouraging to be around other "mzungus" who you could understand. The Bumgarner team left Friday morning (Feb 12) and their plane left early Saturday morning (Feb 13). Apart from helping with the Pastor's Conference I helped Ben with his computer class. We only did computer class for several days because the power went out and Mark was waiting until early evening to turn on the generator. I
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Continue to pray for all the missionaries here! They (We) need all of your prayers! A missionary from New Zealand is coming on Sunday afternoon. Thank you for all of your prayers and support! Praise God for each and every one of you! Take care.

-Chandler