It has been four months since I wrote last. Some exciting things have happened that I am glad I get to share with you. Since we returned from Uganda to Minnesota, we have been busy with our yard. Arley is reconstructing our shed that we brought from our old house. He is increasing its size to include a second floor and an addition which will become our wood shed. We are at a standstill right now until we can find some way to get the roof sections and the walls of the wood shed addition in place. We are trying to come up with an idea other than a lift since funds are not available for that. We have also been clearing brush from around the house and garage and planting several trees in the yard.

We are expecting a new addition to the family at the end of December or the beginning of January. The boys are very excited about the new baby and can’t wait to find out if it is a new brother or sister. To pass the time, Solomon is getting ready for first grade and Abraham is getting ready to start Pre School. Eden is just about ready to take her first steps. She has been so content with her crawling skills that she has not felt the need for any walking, but I have noticed her legs increasing in strength and her ever more confidence in standing unassisted.

 Arley and I had the opportunity to fly down to Alabama to meet with the missions’ board for African Children’s Mission this past weekend. It was a great time of fellowship with Wayne and Mary’s family and it was also wonderful to meet many members of the board. We received a unanimous vote from the board to become full time missionaries with African Children’s Mission! This weekend was also the kick in the pants we needed to continue with our fund raising venture and answered so many of our questions. A big question that was answered was how much support we will need to sustain us on the field. We will need an outgoing fund to support our onetime expenses of airfare, vehicle purchase, home construction and medical insurance. We will also need an ongoing support for monthly living expenses. The approximate amounts are $24,000 for our outgoing expenses and $2,200 a month for living. With Arley’s hours becoming more structured, he has been told that every third weekend he will have off, so we are hoping to start scheduling meetings with small groups, individuals, churches, and businesses regarding our venture. Please pray for us as we are fundraising and on the mission field, that God would meet all of our needs in his time.

I am starting a new and improved mailing list, so if you are interested in being part of that, either by mail or electronically, please email me your information including your name, address, email address, phone, and anything else you might want to. Also, if you have a small group or are part of one and you would like to have us over for an evening, please let us know and we will schedule a time. Also, if you would like to sit down one on one for your own self or your business, also let us know and we would be happy to do that.

Blessings to you and yours,

Arley and Miranda Lund

anmlund@gmail.com or 218-732-9229

“You’re different”.  (Crickets chirping)

Uuuhhm, thanks for noticing?

“How so?” I asked.

He then informed me that usually when someone comes into a waiting situation they pick a seat away from anyone else who is already waiting. Thus, American etiquette. I apologized and we laughed. After finding out he was a retired maintenance worker for a Boy Scout camp and that I was a stay at home mom/used to be 911 dispatcher, my prescription was ready and I was on my way.

I realized as I headed to my vehicle that I was indeed Africanized in another way. African’s don’t know what a comfort zone is. Plain and simple, they have no bubbles or lines to cross. They don’t always know what is appropriate in our standards, not that they are the only ones to go on. I had many children, as well as grown men and women, poke at my children’s cheeks and chest – things that might not ever come to my mind when meeting a child for the first time. But totally acceptable to them, either way.

One thing that I have found extremely difficult, which is one thing that I thought I loved to do or that was something that I should strive for, is having people in my house. Sure, I love to have people come visit, I love to have my friends stay overnight, I love to have a house that is open in case someone comes and needs its services. I have been told that I am very good at providing a relaxing and well met environment for people that do stay, but still I do not like the actual having someone else in my space. We had a house worker who did laundry, cleaned, and watched the kids and helped cook meals. I was uncomfortable every single second she was in my house. And I am realizing that I am that way in my home too.

This seems to be a new revelation to me, since I have wanted and yearned for company. Since I have dreamed about having the resources to house people not of my immediate family. I need to have time alone at night by myself. I need to know that things that I can’t afford to replace are not going to be broken. I don’t know.

This is going to be a struggle for me as we head back to Uganda, as almost everyone has one or two women that work in the home helping with laundry, cooking, and childcare. Almost everyone has someone working outside in the garden or just around the grounds taking care of things so you can concentrate on your missions work. If you feel the need, please help me in praying for my heart to be changed and for someone to come along that I can really except into my family as another member, whom I feel comfortable with. And don’t feel like you can’t ever come over to my house here (or there); just let me know you’re coming first!

We flew down on Friday evening and spent Saturday morning driving to a board meeting for African Children’s Mission, passing Talladega Speedway and a Bass Bro Shop store on the way. We had a good meeting, getting to meet/visit, eat Chinese, and get some business done in the midst. We also got some time to talk with Wayne and Mary about when they first started missions and some of the next steps we need to take.

During the business meeting, we were voted in as full time missions with African Children’s Mission. We were giving a range of funds to shoot for to be supported on the field. We need to meet a budget of $1,500.00 a month and we need to have about half of our building and vehicle fund met before heading over and the rest pledged. We think we will need between $30,000 and $40,000 for the whole thing. We are praying for someone to come along, that is invested in ACM as much, if not more so, than us who is willing to meet most or all of our building cost so that if we ever have to leave the field, then the donor would still be happy with the building being with ACM.

We are starting to get some business cards and prayer cards drawn up, although we want to wait for a picture including the new baby maybe for the prayer card, and my next step of action is to get a updated and revised prayer letter list compiled. To do this, I am going to start from scratch mostly, so if you would be so kind as to email me with your name, address, email, and phone I will gladly add you to this new list.

We stayed in what they call on the ranch “The Green House” well, because it is green. It had a large room with kitchen/dining/living areas with a pantry.

 It had a 3/4 bathroom and a bedroom with an adjoining office space which we used as the boys’ bedroom. There were a four person table/chairs, a love seat, a day bed, and twin beds for the boys and a queen bed for us. We had our share of mosquito nets for our beds. We had a highchair and a crib made for Eden while we were there.

 We also had a shelf made for Solomon’s school books. The kitchen boasted a propane stove and fridge. The fridge had to have a new bottle every 14 days or so and we would use what was left in it for the stove which worked well. The shelves were open and below the counter, which posed a problem as Eden learned to crawl and reach all of the glasses, dishes, and serving ware. We were welcomed by a host of geckos when we got there which stayed for the entire three months depleting the bug population by night and peaking at us from the curtains by day.

 I tried to resist, but my overwhelming urge to change furniture started the day we came. It started with a quick switch of the day bed and the love seat. Then it turned into the bed moving twice and the table and love seat were switched later in our stay (It gave me something to take my mind off of leaving the last day because I worked at switching it all back)!

Our pantry consisted of, at any given time, Irish potatoes (close to reds), cabbage, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, pineapple, bananas, eggs, spaghetti noodles, beans, ground nuts (peanuts), oats, rice, white flour, and maize flour. We ate lots of fried beans and posho (beats the pants off of rice and beans with no nutritional value), spaghetti and fried cabbage and eggs and potatoes. When someone would go to town, they would bring us back some frozen chicken breasts and we would make popcorn chicken and French fries.

We had a girl names Salima to help with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and starting the fire for warm water at bath time. She did these things every day.

 Eventually, Eden liked to help with the laundry. The first week, three men came and dug a trash pit, which turned out to be a 6 foot hole in the ground through lava rock! Africans can be very hard workers.

Our roof was consisted of a thin metal. It is a great upgrade from the grass roof, but there was one drawback. When it rained, it poured! And when it poured, the noise on the roof was absolutely deafening! It was so loud, Abraham had to wear the noise reducing headphones we had brought along at the last minute (thank you God!) and the rest of us had to either go outside or cover our ears. We have already started thinking of ways to lessen the sound when we go back and build our house.