Return to the US

Dear Family and Friends,

We arrived safely in the US on May 25th, almost 3 weeks ago! We spent the first five days resting and settling into our Airbnb and enjoying time with our families. I (Eric) started work at my family's farm last week where I plan to work full time. 

Our long term plan is to settle into my job of working on my family farm in Mifflin, PA. We believe our time in Uganda is finished for now. We are grateful for this new season we are in and excited about our future here.

However, goodbyes and life transitions always come with mixed emotions. Leaving Uganda definitely created many emotions for us; especially since this permanent transition back to the US came sooner than either of us expected. I find myself relieved to be living in the US, where life is easier, I am excited about life on the farm, and creating a family routine here as the children grow up. We firmly believe now was the right time to come back. Then on the other hand, I also wonder why our time in Uganda was cut short and feeling a sense of "work unaccomplished".  Lauren and I do plan to attend a reentry debriefing program to better talk through, pray through, and process this journey that we have been on.

I will share a few highlights of our work the last month that we were in Uganda. 

Nguvu Dairy has been under some major changes in the past three months. We had a couple from Canada, who do business coaching, join us for March and April. They walked with the leadership team of Nguvu (myself and three others) as we made adjustments to the business. They were such an encouragement to us and I personally learned so much from their leadership.

The Uganda leadership team at Nguvu Dairy with the business coaches

I also did a small (about a 1/4 acre) plot of crops and vegetables outside our compound. My goal was to showcase to people (many of who are farmers) a few agricultural techniques.

Left to right: Allan, Francis, and Ceasar

Our trip home seemed like a long journey. We had 10 pieces of luggage, as well as a stroller and child car seats. Because we needed to delay our journey one week (due to COVID), we had three flights instead of two. Aubrey Anne did so well, but Genevieve had more trouble settling and sleeping well. But we made it, and we are grateful! 

All our luggage (the yellow topped boxes) at check-in for our flight

Aubrey Anne watching plans at the layover in Paris

Our last exciting piece of news is that we are expecting our third child in early November! 

Please join us in prayer:

- As our renters move out and we settle back into our house at the end of June

- As our family continues to adjust to a rhythm of work and life here in PA

- For community and friendships in this area

- For a quality debriefing program that we can attend

- For the health and growth of our little one due on November

Many thanks and lots of love,

Eric, Lauren, Aubrey Anne, and Genevieve

 

Working at NGUVU Dairy

Dear Family and Friends,

We are and have been healthy as a family for over 2 months now! We are thankful for your prayers during October and November of last year when Genevieve was not feeling well. It turned out to be the preventative malaria medicine (called Malarone) that we had her on that was on that made her sick. It was a stressful time for Lauren and I and we are grateful it's behind us and that Genevieve and Aubrey Anne are doing well.

Our family is healthy and doing well in Uganda.

Both girls are growing up so fast! Aubrey Anne likes to come to the garden and see what I'm doing.

Aubrey Anne likes helping daddy in the garden.

I work with NGUVU Dairy in Gulu, Uganda. We make, package, and sell thousands of small yogurt pouches along roadsides, mainly in the villages, on the back of over 100 bicycles! During the month of November last year alone, we sold $28,000 in yogurt, all on the back of bicycles! We have two pouch sizes 140 grams (about 5 oz) and 300 grams (about 10 oz) each at a price of around $0.30 for the small pouch and $0.60 for the large pouch.

Yogurt, yogurt, and more yogurt!

NGUVU has 8 sales sites across northern Uganda which sell yogurt; Kamdini site is pictured below. Each site has around 20 bicycles, with cooler boxes on the back of each bicycle, and 10-15 salespersons, people we hire and pay a commission of 18%, to sell our yogurt. 

The bicycles lined up at Kamdini site ready for a day's work.

One of the biggest priorities of NGUVU is to develop young Ugandan people by giving them a job. Because of the history of northern Uganda, many young people lack the qualities of persistence, hard work, responsibility, etc. By giving our sales persons jobs, we are developing these character qualities in these young adults that we are hiring.

Yogurt sales persons preparing their cooler boxes of yogurt for the day's delivery.

The other big priority of NGUVU is the Christian trauma healing that takes place each year at each site. The training is carried out by a local pastor who we hire. This pastor uses Christian Trauma healing curriculum from the Ugandan Bible Society. The trainings last several days. I'm excited that NGUVU offers this trauma healing. There is so much trauma that people here have experienced from the war 20 years ago.

We also have local pastors who hold weekly devotions at each site.

Posters on the wall which were used for trauma healing.

More posters of the trauma healing.

One of the things I like about working with NGUVU is that I get to work with a team of people. I enjoy working with the other staff together on projects and the day to day activities.

My work mates; Emma (left), Patrick (right)

Speaking about NGUVU Dairy on the local radio with Emma (right).

Please pray for NGUVU Dairy. It's not easy trying to run a business like this. The goal is that NGUVU can be financially self sustaining, but it has not yet reached that point. Pray for sales persons; we struggle to find sales persons because riding a bicycle and selling yogurt isn't something that many people here want to do, even though there is good money in it for the hard-working sales persons.

That's all for now.

Eric, (Lauren, Aubrey Anne, and Genevieve)

Merry Christmas!

 Dear Family and Friends,

A very Merry Christmas to all of you! I pray that all of you are able to take time to celebrate with family and friends and remember Christ's birth and rejoice in all the blessings we have access to because God sent His son to the earth 2,000 years ago!

Lauren and I have enjoyed a daily advent reading this season. It's been an encouraging time for us remembering how Christ's birth is and needs to be so fundamental in our lives. We were also able join a candle light service that some missionaries in our town hosted last night. This coming Sunday, we'll join a few families and celebrate together.

Here in Uganda, Christmas is a very big holiday, however, there are not many decorations. Many Ugandans take time this season to travel to their home village, which is often several hours to a days travel away. All their other family members who were away for work or school, are also travel back, so it's a significant time of reunion. This time of reunion lasts for several days, even weeks, in some cases. It's also a time for eating special food, like chicken and rice. We've seen a lot of people carrying chickens back to their homes and being sold along the street.

Work is going well and I hope to update you on that next update! We've also been healthy, which is a huge answer to prayer!! The first 8 weeks of our time here were filled with sleepless nights due to Genevieve struggling to sleep well and digestion issues.

Please enjoy the pictures below, and have a Merry Christmas tomorrow!

Love, Eric (Lauren, Aubrey Anne, and Genevieve)

The girls swinging; Aubrey Anne holding her doll as well

We set up a Christmas tree and enjoyed hot cocoa

My co-workers and I at a rest stop

A candle light service with some other missionaries 

Aubrey Anne with our helper Victor and his son Simon

Genevieve is growing up so fast!

We've Reached!!

Tomorrow (Monday) evening we will have been in Uganda for 3 full weeks! Overall, our flights were uneventful, which is a good thing! Aubrey Anne and Genevieve both did well traveling, which was an answer to prayer. We then began the adjustment to Ugandan time (Uganda is 7 hours ahead of the EST in the US). This caused for some rather sleepless nights, but we made it!

We were able to have a whole row (4 seats) to ourselves both flights.

On the way to the airport, Genevieve enjoyed the last drops of Lauren's tea.

After resting at a guesthouse near the airport for two nights, we made the 7 hour trip to our house in Gulu. It was so good to be finished traveling! When we arrived to our house in Gulu, the guys taking care of our house were waiting for us! Our house was in good shape, considering we were gone for 15 months, with no one living in it. This was definitely an answer to prayer! In Africa, there are many insects (termites, ants, other wood eating insects, etc.) that can destroy wood, cloth, and furniture.

Aubrey Anne loves exploring the market!

My sister Susanna also came with us and stayed for almost 2 weeks to help us on the flight and with adjusting in Uganda. We enjoyed having her stay with us so very much! She was a big help with the girls as they adjusted to our new home. Thank-you everyone for praying for our trip! 

We have two praises: 

First, we are nearing 100% of our support raising goal! We would like to thank all of you who prayed specifically for this need and also were so generous in your support, we greatly appreciate it!

Some of you may have heard that our youngest daughter, Genevieve, was sick 10 days ago. We are grateful the she recovered; thank-you all for praying for her. 

Please continue to pray for our family as we continue our adjustment and find good rhythms as a family here in Uganda after being away for 15 months.

Also pray for our work here, that the Lord would use us here and provide opportunities to advance His Kingdom during this time.

Back to Uganda!

 Dear Family and Friends,

I hope this update finds you all well and enjoying the cooler weather (if you live in PA that is).

We are heading back to Uganda!! Very soon, actually. There were a few details that we were waiting to fall into place before we picked our departure date and only purchased our tickets less than 3 weeks ago. We depart this Sunday, Oct 3rd, at 5:25 pm out of Dulles. We are so grateful that my sister Susanna is coming with us for about 2 weeks to help with the trip to Uganda and then as we settle in over there; she will be a big help!

We feel both excited and ready to be back in Uganda and also sad to leave family and friends, our house, and all the comforts and conveniences of life that the US has to offer. We are excited, however, to return to our life in Uganda and the people we know there.

The past 6 weeks we've stayed busy loving our girls, working, support raising, living life and some vacation time. We enjoyed a trip to Florida with Lauren's parents. Grandparent time has been so special with the girls this summer.

We would like to thank you all for your support this past 15 months (we came back to the US last year in June 2020). So many of you have been generous towards us financially and we appreciate that. We are around 90% of the way to reaching our support goal. Also, thank-you for praying for us the past year as we navigated this season of life. Please continue to pray for us as we travel back to Uganda (with two children under the age of 2 year old).

Love,

Eric (Lauren, Aubrey Anne, and Genevieve)

P.S. Of course I couldn't leave you without pictures of our girls.

Fundraising, COVID in Uganda, The Market Project, A big Thank-You!

Dear Family and Friends,

Fundraising

It's nearly September, where did the summer go? (That's how it feels anyway)! This means that September 25th, our target date of leaving for Uganda, is quickly coming. We are about 80% of the way to our fundraising goal. We are still praying for $400 in monthly recurring gifts and $10,000 one-time gifts to come in before we depart for Uganda. Thank-you all for your generosity, we are getting close to our goal!

COVID in Uganda

Please pray for the COVID situation in Uganda. The COVID numbers dramatically increase about 3 months ago. The government took action by putting a strict lockdown in place that lasted for six weeks. Recently, the lockdown was eased, but many the guidelines that remain still put people in financial strain. Public transport, for example, under guidelines. A bus is only allowed to carry 50% of its capacity. This will certainly cause an increase in bus tickets. Many Ugandans rely on buses and goods and services are sure to also increase in price. Schools are not allowed to reopen until a vaccine is found (which has been very complicated for Uganda so far). 

The Market Project

Last month, I spent two days with some other US colleagues of the The Market Project. It was a very good time of meeting in person and getting to know my colleagues better and learn more about The Market Project as an organization. I'm very excited about joining them in Uganda.

A Big Thank-You!

Finally, thank-you to all of you who have been praying for us and have financially given to this work! We couldn't do this without you. Beyond the financial help, it is encouraging to have you invest in our work in this way.

Prayer Requests

1. That the COVID numbers in Uganda would decrease and for the health of people in Uganda.

2. The financial situation of many people in Uganda who are affected by the recent COVID spike.

3. Support raising; that the money could come so that we would be able to leave for Uganda in September.

Praises

1. Some improvement in COVID numbers in Uganda so that some restrictions were lifted.

2. All the support that has come in for us so far.

3. The Lord's provision for us as a family over the last year as we were in the US.

Thats all for now,

Eric (Lauren, Aubrey Anne, and Genevieve)

December Update

We cut down our Christmas Tree!

Hello Family and Friends, 

Happy December to each of you! We are grateful to be celebrating this advent season once again in the US with our family, awaiting the birth of a new baby who is due at the end of February.

We have somethings to update you on, so let's get started:

1. Back in Uganda

Since returning to the states in June, Eric has been in communication with his coworkers about their ongoing community garden projects. He will share more about the success of the plots in a video in the coming weeks. He also has been making sure that our home and compound are in good hands by communicating with his coworker and our helpers who are overseeing care of our place. While in the US, Eric is working on his parents dairy farm.

I continue to work remotely here in the US on the primary school curriculum that I am helping to develop. The curriculum is trifold including modules of spiritual, character, and leadership development lessons. Schools in Uganda have been shut down since March because of Covid-19, so any training or meetings that I would have planned to have would not have happened. I am grateful to be able to work away at this project that I am passionate about and I hope that we can roll out a drafted version when school opens back up at the beginning of 2021.

A major struggle that Uganda is enduring right now is the campaigning season for the upcoming mid-January elections. While we are not there, we are getting information on how tense the situation has been and how violence is unfolding as a result of campaigning. The current president is well into his 70's and has served for three decades and counting.  There is a serious opponent coming up to vie for the presidential position. This is a threat to the established president and his party, therefore it is creating unrest nationwide.

2. We bought a house!

While it may seem crazy that we would buy a house since we have a (rented) home in Uganda and very much have our lives and work there, this has been a goal for us to own in the US. There are several reasons why. This house will be a space for us to settle for now until we go back to Uganda. Also it will be a place to come back to when we do travel back and forth. And it is an investment that we have been wanting to make. We pray that this home is a blessing to others as we welcome new and old friends in and as we rent it out when we are back in Uganda. Our home is in Mifflin, PA and it is about 10 minutes from the Ranck family farm. A fun fact: in Aubrey Anne's 11 months of life, this is her SIXTH home! She's adjusted so well :)

Move in Morning

Aubrey Anne loves her books!

3. Looking Ahead

We plan to be in the US for several weeks after our 2nd child is born; that brings us to about mid April. Upon arrival back in Uganda, we will settle into our new routine as a family of four. I will return back to work in early June. Eric will continue his agriculture work with the garden plots in the communities and other work with World Renew. 

Prayers 

• The birth of our baby due in February
• Relationship with our new neighbors here in Mifflin
• Peaceful election campaigns in Uganda
• Our return to Uganda in April

Gratitude

• The provision of buying a house
• Good communication with people in Uganda taking care of our house
• A healthy pregnancy as I am now in my third trimester
• For YOU, for friendship, care, support, love and prayers for us!

 

With lots of love and joy to you this season, 

Lauren, for the Rancks

Happy Thanksgiving!