It's looking like a beautiful day...

Good morning friends. This post is coming to you from Kingstown, Mass where I am sitting in the Bouchards' living room, enjoying a cup of coffee by the window while listening to some Elbow and admiring the cloudy grey sky. Beautiful...

It's strange being back stateside. Strange and great at the same time. I am happy to be this much closer to home, but sad to have left Uganda. I grew so fond of it over the summer and really came to love being there. Especially the people. So beautiful. But now, the spirit has lead us back to where this summer's journey began, only to embark on a new one. I will be back in Tulsa by Friday (if all goes to plan) while Tyler remains in Mass for a while longer (early September-ish). I am so excited to see everyone and swap stories of what our summers held. I am also excited about what God is doing in Tulsa, specifically with the beginning of the Boiler Room community. If any of you are interested in hearing more about it and what we'll be up to over the next year or so, shoot one of us an email or a phone call and we'll fill you in. 

Please continue to pray for us as we process the things the Lord did in our lives over the summer. I cannot express how grateful I am to you all for being faithful to pray, and how grateful I am to our Father for listening and acting in response. He is truly the greatest Father any fool could ask for. 

I love you all so much and miss you as well, see you soon!

-Seth

Team Time

Hello all, just a quick update since I have the chance. We are in Kampala right now with the BWO team from the States. The last few days have been quite a ride. We spent a couple days in Entebbe doing work on some Islands in Lake Victoria. The first day our boat actually wrecked on some rocks! It was pretty awesome, not gonna lie. It felt like I was in Swiss Family Robinson. But the work we did was really cool, we met a lot of broken, hurting people and got the opportunity to share Christ's love with several of them. Our Father has been teaching me so much the last few days about loving people. Specifically about loving other christians, since I have a really hard time with that, especially in large groups. The lessons I am learning here, I will not easily forget.

We leave on the 6th! I can't believe it. A day earlier than we thought. The time has flown by and while I am excited to return home, I am very sad to leave this place. I have come to love it so much. Hopefully the Lord will provide opportunity for me to come back in the near future.

Thank you all for your faithfulness to pray over us. Our Father is listening.

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want"

Love
-seth

Pizza, Star Wars, Paper Airplanes...Family

Today was our last day with the Palmers, and what a day it was. Rain, power outage, paper plane wars, homemade pizza dinner (props to chef Tyler) and sharing in the kids' first ever exposure to STAR WARS. So great to help pass the Star Wars torch on to another generation. Man I'm gonna miss this family...

Just thought I'd leave you all with one last update before we enter the land of no internets. This will likely be one of our last updates before we get home...

Can't wait to see you all and share these stories in person!

all my love

-seth

Torn...

Here we are, nearing the end of our stay with the Palmers in Jinja. Tomorrow is our last day before leaving for Entebbe. We are excited about the trip to Entebbe and Gulu, but we are very sad to leave. I have come to feel like part of this family and it feels as if an important organ is about to be suddenly and forcefully ripped out of my body. We have had such an amazing time here over the past 4 weeks, it's hard to put it all into words (especially words on a computer screen). God has been at work in all of our hearts, reminding us that none of this was our idea in the first place. There is no doubt in my mind that He brought the Palmers here in January for a very specific purpose (even purposes not yet known) and that He did the same with us. I have been reminded that His plans are not our plans and His thoughts are not our thoughts. We came here with little plan for what we were actually going to do here, and yet God has gone ahead of us preparing the way and guiding us where we should go. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here, doing life with such special people. Adam, Michelle, Emma, Noah, Dorothy, Sterling and Charlotte...You have my heart, all of you...

So it is that we are torn between the excitement of new adventure and the sadness of leaving those close to us. It seems that has been a theme of our lives lately. Please continue to pray for us as we travel. There are a lot of busses and taxis ahead over the next couple weeks and so we ask that you pray for safety, peace and joy for the road! Also, please remember the Palmer family in your prayers. You can stay updated on their adventures through their blog, oneroofafrica.blogspot.com (I believe that's it, if not I'll fix it). They are very dear to our hearts. 

We love and miss all of you so much!

-seth

Furious Love

Hey all! Just dropping in for a quick update. We are still in Jinja with the Palmers and are still having an amazing time. God is at work in our hearts in very cool ways. Every Tuesday the Palmers invite friends over to their house for a community worship and prayer time which has been super cool. Both times we have attended have just been so powerful. It's so exciting to feel and see the Spirit move in response to His children gathering together and crying out to Him in desperation. He is so faithful to draw near to us when we take the time to draw near to Him. He loves us with a furious love...

We have about two weeks left with the Palmer fam before traveling to Entebbe to meet up with the BWO team that's coming. We have no idea what we will be doing with the team but we are excited to see how the Lord wants to use us. We are praying that He will be preparing our hearts for whatever lies ahead, and would appreciate if you all joined with us in that prayer...

Thanks again for all of your prayer support, I appreciate it more than I can say. Our Father has been so faithful to listen and answer. He has been revealing His furious love to me in so many new ways...and I am endlessly grateful...

There is a new song in my heart...

Peace and Blessings to all of you

-Seth

Fireworks, Watermelon...and Freedom

Happy 4th of July everyone! Hope you are enjoying a day full of relaxation, cookouts and fireworks. We are having a great time here, celebrating American style with hotdogs and watermelon. On this holiday, when we celebrate our birth as an independent nation, I would just like to ask you one question: what are you doing with all of your freedom? It's not a loaded question. Well, not completely. See, we live in a country where we constantly celebrate and remind ourselves of our freedom, but it seems we very rarely think much about what we are doing with it. Freedom is a gift, a blessing, and anyone who has spent much time in the Bible should be pretty well aware of the fact that when God blesses us, His intention is that we turn and bless others. This is something that we as Americans are pretty poor at remembering (myself included). So my question to you (and to myself) is, what are you doing with your freedom? How are you using this incredible blessing to benefit the Kingdom? I think we would all do well to ask ourselves this question, and to ask our Father for His opinion on the subject. Just a thought.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

-Seth

Family Time

Hey all, just wanted to shoot a quick update. We are still in Jinja with the Palmers, and it looks like we will be staying here longer than riginally planned. We are having a great time here with our extended family. Nothing like quality family time: breaking bread, building fences, laying brick walkways, shooting hoops, praying and worshipping together, and sometimes just sitting around shooting the breeze. God is at work here in our hearts and lives. He is using the Palmer fam to bless us immensely and I believe He is using us in a similar way to bless them. It's really beautiful the way our Father can touch us through other people isn't it? Sometimes it comes through shared wisdom from an older spiritual brother, other times it comes from watching a four-year-old girl dance in worship. It blows my mind just thinking about it. The way God is breaking through to speak to us and to love and bless us all the time (and so often without us even noticing). We serve an awesome God, a gracious Saviour, a loving Father.

For all of you prayer warriors who have been so faithfully supporting us, we just want to thank you. It is obvious that God is listening. Please continue to pray for us. We need wisdom and discernment in the coming weeks. Thanks!

Side note: American's have no idea what they are missing in the soda pop department. All the pop here is made with natural cane sugar instead of corn syrup and it's amazing how big of a difference it makes (plus it all comes in glass bottles which we all know makes the experience more enjoyable). And as if that's not enough, they even have two totally rockin' Coke products that we don't: Stoney Tangawizi (a ginger brew...so good) and Krest Bitter Lemon (despite the name, it rules). Just thought you should all know that. It's the little things people...the little things...

Also, in case you are interested, there are a couple books you should check out. Tyler and I are reading "Punk Monk" by Andy Freeman & Pete Grieg together while we are here. It's totally awesome, one of the most inspiring books I've read in a long time. Also, I'm reading "Absolute Surrender" by Andrew Murray and it is easily one of the most powerful, challenging and inspiring books I've ever read. Seriously. So anyway, check those out if you like to read, or if you are desiring more spiritual depth in your walk.

Well, gotta go. There's a game of H.O.R.S.E. waiting for me outside (on a 7 1/2 foot basketball goal). Love and miss you all so much. Give our love...to eachother...and to everyone else you meet...Take all the love you would be giving to us and go find somebody to pour it out on...It'll be fun...Just do it...Trust me, it'll feel good...Ok, bye...

-Seth

Hanging with the Palmers!

Here we are, in Jinja, hanging with some of our close friends, Adam and Michelle Palmer and their wonderful children (Emma, Noah, Dorothy, Sterling and Charlotte). It is so great to be here with such an awesome family. They moved here in January to adopt a little boy (Sterling) and will be here for three years fostering him as part of the adoption process. So far we have been having a great time seeing the city, going to church and today, beginning work on a new fence for the garden in their back yard. It is such a blessing to get to be here with them. We will be updating more frequently while we are here because we have more regular internet access. Stay tuned! We love and miss you all...

-Seth

The Adventures of Saeze and Tyra

Saeze and Tyra...That is what the Ugandans call us...Apparently Seth and Tyler are very difficult names to pronounce here...

Oh man, where to begin, since I posted last, we went on a journey to the western mountain regions (Kansenene and Kabujogera are the villages we stayed in, though I'm not sure of the spelling) with some of our friends, pastors Israel, Tushabe, Kasozi and Kintu. It was so great, very challenging and yet very refreshing at the same time. God is doing so much big stuff in our hearts, stretching us and growing us in ways we weren't expecting, but it is truly wonderful. He is a good Father, and a faithful provider.

Tomorrow we leave Masaka for Jinja! We are so excited to see another new city, especially since we will be staying with some of our good friends from Tulsa, The Palmers. They moved to Uganda several months ago to adopt a child and we are super stoked to get to spend a couple weeks with them. They are a beautiful family with a huge heart for the Lord, and we have missed them very much.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers, God is listening! His hand has been all over our trip so far, ordering our steps and preparing the way for us. Our hearts are filled with gratitude and we miss you all so much...

'til we meet again!
-Seth

We are in Love with this place

We have only been here a short time, but so far we love this country. We are currently staying in the city of Masaka with our friend Pastor Kintu and his family. Yesterday Tim dropped us off in the city with a "scavenger hunt" to-do list to get us used to being in the country without him. It was a lot of fun. We are learning the language very slowly, but the people are nice and love to ask "the mzungus" questions and make jokes at our expense.

I am somewhat sad, but also very relieved to say that our long hair only lasted three days. We passed a barber shop on the street yesterday and knew what had to be done. It is way too hot here for the hairstyles we were sporting, so we now have very attractive buzz cuts (no seriously, we look good). It is wierd not having any hair, but a very welcomed change here. We will post pictures as soon as we can.

Last night we went to a resort on Nabugabo Lake with the BSM (Believers School of Ministry) team for them to have a meeting. It is such a beautiful place and served wonderfully for reflection and rest. We have been going going going from the time we got here so it was nice to sit back and relax with friends.

Tomorrow we are going out west, to our friend Israel's village to visit some tribes and churches out near the mountains. It will be very interesting to really leave modern civilization behind us for a week. We won't have access to the internet out there so this will be the last post for a week or so.

I love you all very much and miss you as well. Please continue to pray for us as our journey continues and we will update again as soon as possible.

All our love!
-Seth

WE MADE IT!

First day in Uganda. What a trip it has been so far: driving 30 hours across the US to Boston to spend a week with Tyler's family (big thanks to the Bouchard clan for welcoming us so generously), taking a train, bus and taxi to NYC, flying to Dubai and staying a night there and then flying the rest of the way yesterday into Entebbe, Uganda. I am so excited to be here, this is something I've been dreaming and praying about for almost a year now, and I can barely believe that it came true. Even after a good night of sleep last night (despite getting used to my new friend, the mosquito net) it all feels very surreal and dream-like. I'm sure it will all set in slowly. Thanks to everyone who supported us financially and in prayer. We love and appreciate you all so much. We do ask that you continue to pray for us over the summer and we will try to keep this blog updated as often as possible. Please pray for physical health, mental sharpness, spiritual peace and joy, and hearts that abide in and grow closer to the Father.

We love and miss you all very much,

Namaste

-Seth

Kampala!

Well we made it! I (tyler) woke early this morning 4am because of time change and all that jazz and watched the amazing sunrise over Kampala the capitol city of uganda. it amazing to finally be here and im so excited. its almost dreamlike traveling this far. one day in new york, few hours in dubia and bamm your in africa. i've been waiting my whole life to come to africa and now im staring at it drinking morning tea

-Tyler

4am!

Its time to head off to uagnda! me(ty) and seth have had a late night hangin with my family and friends and packing for the next to months of our life in uganda. Its been an amazing story of God's provision, love, and grace these past few months preparing. We have seen many miracles so far with money and all kinds of stuff finding its way to us and many many prayers from our friends and family. So now its time to hop a train, bus, taxi, plane, plane, bus and many more im sure. Love you all so much! next post from UGANDA!!!!!!!!

-Tyler

update!

Hey friends! Id like to give you all an update.
We are a month and a few days away from Uganda and we are praying and believing God for the funds to make it happen. We are about $5000 short of the trip cost, and with 3 weeks left before our payment deadline we are praying and believing God has us. Thank you all for prayers and I ask that we could all join in for the next 3 weeks to pray for the funds!

Money.Donations.ect...

Thanks to everybody who came to the pancake breakfast last week!
It was a great turnout and a whole lot of fun!

We are getting ready for the silent auction and live auction at believers church. The silent auction starts this sunday and we could really use donations! We still need quite a bit of money to pay for the trip and donations for the silent auction are a great way of helping!
Please let us know ASAP if you would like to donate something.

Thanks!

Here is a link to Donate online!

http://transittulsa.com/donate.html

Uganda!

Hello Everyone!
We (Tim, Tyler, and Seth) are going to Uganda this summer!
June 10th-end of June for Tim
June 10th-August 6th for Tyler and Seth
We are currently fund raising for our trip and we could use lots of prayers and donations
Thanks more coming soon!