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