Troy and Alice Hahn

Original introduction to Troy and Alice Hahn:

Mr. and Mrs. Hahn are from New Mexico.  They are going to Uganda,   Africa to help pepole there learn about Jesus.  Mrs. Hahn will teach math to children, and both of them will teach about Jesus. 

Cavern Baptist Church is helping them by buying craft supplies for the children to make fun projects with.  Many of the children and adults there have never even seen a crayon.  Can you imagine that!!!

Mr. and Mrs. Hahn will be leaving America for two years.  They will leave their family and friends, and go into Africa to be missionaries.  While they are there, Mrs. Hahn will have to wear a dress everyday, because ladies do not wear pants there.  We can help Mr. and Mrs. Hahn and all the missionaries in the world by praying for them.  Look on the map to find Africa.


8-8-16: 

Recent letter received from Alice:

Greetings from the International Learning Center (ILC)

I can hardly believe it has been only one week since I wrote...oh wait, has it been?  It may have been a month or two, so much has happened since last Saturday. 

The major focus on our Bible studies is to multiply churches.  Of course, that is impossible if our own spiritual life is not a deep well within us.  Each morning we have an hour or so of help with a method of Bible study and worship, then time to apply it.  When we reconvene we study church planting and how to apply that, then we have talks from missionaries about how it looks on the field to do church planting, and a time to ask questions.  After that is usually an important information session which varies from health on the field to security or other topics.  These class sessions last from 8 to 4 with only little breaks between. 

At times we meet with our "Affinity Group" which is our piece of the world.  We have small group on Sunday with that group too and we meet together quite often.  There is a total of 17 in our group.  Our name is SubSahara Africa Peoples (SSAP); 10 adults and 7 children.  We have the most children of any affinity group, and they all live in our quad (a group of 4 apartments).  For example, the East Asia affinity group has 24, and only 4 children.  Needless to say, our small group time on Sunday morning is lively.  The seven-year old gave her testimony last Sunday.  That was so sweet.  The adults in the whole group ate at an African Cafe yesterday on our way to tour the IMB office downtown. 

While we were at the headquarters building (sometimes called Monument--the name of the street where it is located), we saw the trunk Lottie Moon took to China and quite a few of her writings.  There were a lot of historical documents.  It was really awe-inspiring. 

So far Troy and I have become lost every time we go downtown.  Part of our group assignments are in a particular area downtown, so hopefully we will begin to understand the instructions on our GPS before too long.  I am accustomed to wandering around, but Troy is accustomed to always knowing where he is, so this has been new for him. 

Thank you so much for praying for us.  Getting used to an overwhelming amount of paperwork and job requirements and reports and documents to keep track of must be a part off the job description for missionaries, because that is something all of the candidates are struggling with.  Please keep that in mind as you pray--that we will not feel like we are drowning and unable to keep up.  Pray that we won't feel old and useless in this group of people of whom about 90% are less than 30.  Pray that in spite of time pressure we will still have time to be with each other and mostly that we will be able to stop and listen for the still small voice of God. 

We love you and pray that you will continue in the strength of the Lord. 

Troy and Alice

PS. Susie, can you share this letter with Moms?  Beth and Travis stay strong in the Lord.  Archie and Linda, can you share this with your class and church?  We have printed up the contact information for your business person twice, but can't find it in this pile of paperwork in our apartment.  Marcia, can you share this with your church?  LOL...I feel like the Apostle Paul, adding all of these personal notes at the end.  I should also say to quit arguing and greet each other with a holy kiss

Love you,


Received 8-13-16: 

Dear faith family,

 
One of the activities we do is to go into Richmond about once a week and start conversations that may develop in to spiritual opportunities. Last Wednesday, my partner Rebecca and I started a conversation with Fu Dan a Chinese mom who was in the library with her son. Even though Fu Dan spoke quite a bit more English than we did Chinese (gross overstatement) there was a definite struggle to communicate. Fu Dan said she went to a Bible Study once a week during the school year because she was curious about Jesus and wanted to learn more. We tried to tell her more, but the language got in the way. Fortunately, there are two Chinese couples here at FPO. I said I had a friend who could talk to her about Jesus if she would like. She was very pleased, and we shared phone numbers and arranged a dinner.
 
So, yesterday our friend Mulberry Sang and his wife Sissy met Troy and I and Fu Dan and Yu Den, a friend of hers for dinner at Peter Chan's. We had a wonderful meal, and Mulberry explained how to know Jesus. He was able to answer the specific oriental/Chinese issues that kind of stump western believers. After about a couple of hours of questions and answers (which neither Troy or I understood) BOTH women accepted Christ!!!! What a blessing for a conversation in a library with a stranger to lead to a woman--two women--finding eternal life!
 
Today our affinity (Sub-Sahara Africa) is having an African meal. We are doing potluck from scratch. That doesn't sound that hard except each little apartment has only a tiny kitchen with maybe one pan or one skillet or one muffin tin. We had to beg and borrow from the other quads and still had to go to Walmart to buy some pans. After checking the Internet and print sources, Troy and I are preparing a meat sauce with the standard tomato, onion, pepper combo, but also with a cup of chopped dates. It will be eaten with Pap. It should be interesting.
 
Please continue in prayer.  This training time is demanding. Many missionaries told us it is like drinking from a fire hose. I believe it.
 
Blessings on you all,
Troy and Alice
 
Now to follow the pattern of the Apostle Paul: Troy, my fellow worker, and Jenna, Ben, Lucius, and Sosipater, my relatives, send you their good wishes. Beth, special prayers for your peace. Olene, if you want to be removed from this prayer list, let me know. Archie and Linda, this is the same letter I'm sending to your church (I do intend to separate your class out once we get to Uganda). I wrote this with my own hand--see the typos. Moms, special love and prayers to you.
 

Receoved 8-20-16

Dear Friends and Family,

 
This week was full of classes as usual, but one unusual thing was that David Platt, the president of IMB came to speak to us for three sessions and we also were invited to his house for an evening. There are so many of use they divided us into three shifts and each of us had an hour there. It was a nice stormy evening but the rain held off while we were there so the children in our group got to jump on the trampoline and play on the swings. Probably the most memorable thing for me in David Platt's sessions was his request that we would pray for him to have wisdom. He was a totally humble and inspiring speaker.
 
Our team leader on the mission field, Misti Shelton, has requested that we arrange our arrival date to be in time to go to the East Africa Cluster Meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, which begins October 1. That means we will be leaving a week before we expected. That really puts the pressure on to get home and get the school supplies all packed and ready in a short amount of time. Also that means we need a tourist visa for Kenya right away. There is a web site to do that, but it keeps crashing when we get to page 3. We will need to call the Kenyan Embassy Monday to see if there is a different way to do it. Part of the Ugandan work visa is a "spiritual" resume for Troy. It was interesting trying to figure out when he did specific things in the church. We totally ball-parked how long he has been teaching Sunday School.  We also made up a name to fit his locking/unlocking/thermostat adjusting/lighting on and off/coffee maker/welcoming job.  We decided to call it the Set-Up Coordinator.  
 
Yesterday was also the first official shot clinic. Troy and I had one before we came, two a week ago and then yesterday I had two and Troy had three.  The next two Friday's will be the next two shot clinics with 3 or 4 scheduled each time, and then we should be as impervious as superman (or as punctured as a pincushion). 
 
Thank you for remembering us in your prayers. We remember you with greatest thanksgiving to God for his grace in giving you to us.
 
Blessings,
Alice and Troy

Received 8-28-16:

Dear Friends,

This week was awesome in every respect. We started with three sessions with Ken Perkins--he's the author of The Insanity of God. Ken said this most thought provoking statement: There is no such thing as the free church and the persecuted church; we are just the Church; at all times free and at all times persecuted. That certainly makes a person ponder his own church, doesn't it? When you pray to thank God for our freedom to worship, pray also that our brothers and sisters will remain strong in persecution. By the way, there is a movie based on that book and it will be released for one night: August 30.  Please go see it. You will probably need to get tickets online. We did, fortunately, because they are sold out now here in Richmond. More about this later.
 
After such an inspiring beginning of the week, I wondered what kind of speaker could possibly be good enough to follow that up. That's when Chuck Lawless started his series on doctrine. Before he started, I was thinking, "Oh, whoopee, doctrine. Like we need more doctrine, or we don't know what Baptist believe." But after a few minutes, I discovered that doctrine is my favorite thing to think about, to study, to examine! This man is an awesome speaker and Bible scholar.  
 
The week wrapped up with a demonstration of sT4T. That means storytelling to Train for Trainers. The marvel of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that illiterate people can come to believe in Christ without having heard any Bible truths or even having a Bible in their language.  Our privilege then is to tell the story of the Bible, the grand epic of how God created us and loves us and provided for us to know him, in the form of stories. These stories are told to a small group and then they go out and tell others who go tell others.  We had a chance to practice this in our affinity group (our affinity is SubSaharan Africa People [SSAP]). 
 
Today Troy and I had a 2 minute video made to introduce us to the East Africa Cluster. After that we did our outreach, because on the designated day (Wednesday) we finished our Visa work and got it in the mail to the Kenya embassy.  So today we met Derek and Jasmine, a couple with whom Troy and his partner Chris had made contact two weeks ago. We talked to them about an hour and a half, and encouraged them to get connected to a church. During the conversation, Troy gave them the tickets to Insanity of God. So there you go. That's what happens when you are married to a man with the spiritual gift of giving.
 
Thank you so much for your prayers. The one major request we have is that we would be bold and persistent in our witness to others, that we will be good conduits of the Grace of God. Not just conduits like an inch piece of pipe, nor even a 24 inch pipeline, but like a river--like the Mississippi--the Mississippi at flood stage. May it be said of us, "To know Troy and Alice is to have heard the gospel." Hallelujah!!
 
BLESSINGS,
Alice and Troy

 
Received 9-17-16
 
Dearest People,
 
I had a running argument with my computer about email groups. It took 4 hours to build all my groups into manageable chunks, Then when I came home from the computer lab, the groups didn't appear to migrate with me. Finally today we had a heart to heart discussion about searching through files and hiding very important information from the user and "Poof!" all my contacts showed up and already in the groups I built three weeks ago. Wonders  never cease!
 
This past week was "Affinity Week." Just a quick terminology reminder: Our affinity is SubSaharan African Peoples, or SSAP for short. This week involved classes specifically targeted to helping us be more effective on the field in our SSAP area. There are a lot of Moslems in SSAP, so we had some help on engaging Moslems with the gospel. SSAPs also have very different cultural expectations and consider different things acceptable and different things rude than our western culture. We learned a lot, as we always do every week no matter the focus. 
 
Our last shot clinic was yesterday. I got 4 and I think Troy got 5. We have our malaria medicine issued and will take it the first day we are on the field. We are in the process of trying to contact Nikki at the clinic because Troy's blood pressure medicine is not sold in Uganda or Kenya, so we will need Nikki to prescribe a different type of medicine.Next week is our last week, so we are trying to wrap up everything we can.
 
Our team leader, Misti Shelton wrote again today. She said she would take some pictures of our house and send them sometime next week. That will help us visualize where we want things and what we need to take. So far it looks like we will take lots and lots of school stuff and just maybe a few clothes if they aren't too heavy. Uganda sounds wonderful. We will have electricity and water most days, we will have a water filter supplied by WMU so that we can actually drink tap water, we will be issued a vehicle to drive while we are there, and one of the most wonderful things is that we will actually have a toilet and not have to use a squatty potty! What could be better?
 
Thank you so much for your continued prayers. Please continue to pray that Troy and I will be bold and take advantage of every opportunity to tell others about Christ and His incredible love for us.
 
Blessings,
Alice

Received 10/1/16

Here we are in Kenya!  We arrived last night about 9 and began the visa inspection and customs search of our trunks. After all of that with very helpful Kenyan people at the airport we met our supervisors Misti and Anthony Shelton by about 10 and we headed toward Brackenhurst for 6 days of the East Africa Cluster Meeting. The meeting started today, with registration  at 2 and worship at 4:30, so we had a few hours to work off some of our jet lag.
 
Brackenhurst was a British Country Club up until sometime in the 1960’s when Kenya won their independence. At that time the IMB bought it and used it for retreats and training for their personnel in Africa. Just in the last few years IMB decided to invest more heavily in personnel and less in property, so they sold Brackenhurst, but still have arrangements to have training and retreats here. It is a lovely conference center.  We didn’t see much last  night because it was about 11 by the time we got here, but today was fun just walking around and exploring until registration for the Cluster Meeting.
 
Our room is actually a little English cottage with really thick walls, a little wooden wardrobe instead of a closet, an iron bed, and wood burning stove in the corner (more about this stove later). The bathroom is a very Spartan European type with the barest of necessities, not like the American trend of a hotel spa bathroom. Because electricity is so expensive, the hot water heater has a switch to turn it on an hour before you bathe and to turn off immediately afterwards. Otherwise, there is only cold water to wash with. Just so you know, the water is really better after 3 hours of heating.
 
We didn’t bring adaptors for the outlets, so we were not able to plug in our phones or computers to charge up to find out the time, so for the first night and morning we had no idea what time it was or when to get up or eat or more importantly, when to turn the hot water heater on so we could bathe.  So guessing by what  4 in the morning might feel like, I got up to turn on the heater so that we could take a warm shower when it felt like 7. I successfully turned it on, and headed back to bed and crunched the toes on my right foot on the hearth around our charming corner wood stove. What a bother! Exploring the grounds took a lot more time than I wanted, limping around with swollen purpling toes (is purpling a word, Sharon?)
 
Thank you for your continued prayers. Pray for the people in northern Nigeria. The crops last year were very poor and  the wet season hasn’t come so there is no food. The people are eating grass to try to stay alive. Please ask God to keep the believers strong and that He would bring food to their homes. Pray that Troy and I will continue to bond with the faith family here that we are meeting  so that others will see us and know that we are Christians by our love for each other and for a dark world chained by ancestor worship and animism.
 
We love you, and pray for your continued ministry where you are.
 
Blessings,
Alice and Troy

Received 10-15-16

Greetings from Jinja!

The first week: I am in awe of what has God planned for this country boy from New Mexico!  We arrived Saturday afternoon 08 October, after a week of meetings and our supervisors having Doctor appointments.  Unpacking was not too bad, church on Sunday morning with Sunday afternoon getting adjusted to the house.  Then Monday morning off to Kampala to finish our work visas and pick up a 2001 Land Rover provided by the company (Lottie’s money). We did some shopping after spending time standing in various lines getting our visas, then back to Jinja.  Meanwhile our supervisors’ daughters were involved in a vehicle accident, but thankfully no one was hurt too badly.
 Tuesday Alice started at Kilombera School. What a switch from teaching in Eunice, NM, to teaching on the banks of the Nile! We hope the picture shows how spectacular it is.
Troy worked at the house and waited for interviews for someone to help with the yard, and learning more about the compound.  Wednesday we had yard person and house person in place, the electrician came, made a list, and said he would come back Friday. This week there were at least 4 random power outages and Friday the water was off all day, so we are adjusting to variations of what we assume is normal in the western world. However, we did have new SIM cards in the phones and Wi-Fi installed.
So here it is Saturday, we are waiting on the mechanic from Kampala to get here and fix the Rover’s steering, hoping there are funds to rewire the house, and looking for ways to make this a very comfortable guest house not only now, but also after we are gone.
Our helpers are amazing! Andrew the gardener makes both of us tired, but has already made the place look a lot better. We will send pictures of our yard before and after Andrew’s presence. The before pictures look like the pre-Adam Garden of Eden on steroids. Now it is beginning to have some look of the garden after Adam began to master it.
Evelyn the housekeeper also makes us tired the way she works. We have a hard time making her quit at 5. She has washed everything in the house including the chairs and sofa in the living room. When she doesn’t see anything else to clean, she washed things again or irons something. Troy stopped her from ironing on the floor by setting up the ironing board for her. She is awesome.
Our prayer requests are:
a)   As we settle in, that we won’t get so comfortable that we forget why God sent us here.
b)   That we may be effective teachers as Alice continues at Kilombera and as we begin Monday to teach classes at the seminary
c)   That we will make an opportunity to share the gospel every week
Thank you so much for your continued prayer. Please send us your concerns so that we may pray more effectively for you, too.
 
Blessings,
 
Troy and Alice
 

Received 10-22-16

To All Our Friends,
From Troy and Alice Hahn
Jinja, Uganda
22 October, 2016
 
            We have been in Uganda for 12 days. Alice is already concluded one English class at the seminary and will start a new one Monday. I did get to be in the first class on last Monday (17th) afternoon. It was neat to meet those students and read their papers and interact with them. Their enthusiasm for Jesus is awesome.
            Please join with us in praying for these things:
·         The need for Seminary Teachers is great. We have made some contacts; please pray that they would be fruitful.
·         Funding for the Seminary. The only support the seminary receives from the IMB is the salary for three positions. Individual churches in the US have pledged support in the past, but over time some churches have decided to spend their funds in other ways.
·         Two IMB couples that do island ministry, the Herrons and the Smiths. Actually all of us here are involved in more than one area. For example, Monday I (Troy) will travel with George Smith and James Herron to an area to assess the need for relief efforts.
·         House repair. We need wisdom to know what to fix and how much to fix to make this duplex where we are staying a future guest house for visiting seminary professors and short term missionaries and/or mission teams.
            Let me elaborate on the seminary teacher problem. Consider giving your pastor a sabbatical to come and teach for one month. He will return to you renewed, refreshed, and reinvigorated. The students come for a four-week session then a new group comes in. They rotate like this for about four sessions per year.  The students are passionate about Christ and truly hungry to know the Word better. I am sure that any pastors or teachers offering to teach for a short course would not be turned down, and in the process of blessing students with his knowledge, would end up receiving even more blessings from them.
            Funding! That is always a hard subject to talk about. The Seminary has lost more than 25% of it’s funding in the last year. They are doing an important work here. Alice had students from 6 different countries out of 17 students in the first class. The Ugandans came from all areas of this country. The impact can potentially be far reaching.
            Short term missions projects! Monday and Tuesday I will be with the men that do island ministry and I will ask about your potential involvement for short term projects with them. I also know of some maintenance issues at the Seminary if you would like to tackle a repair project.
Thank you so much already for the prayer support, the encouragement, and the Love you so willingly share with us.
            May God Richly Bless All of You,
            Troy and Alice 

Received October 29, 2016

            Once again a full week. Alice started with teaching government (in addition to Algebra I, Pre-Algebra, and physical science) at Kilombera and her second class at the seminary. Alice’s new seminary group are in the BTh program and far more advanced than the first group. I met some of them during the week and started some relationships. It is so encouraging to see different aged pastors seeking to learn and to be well founded in the Bible and doctrine.
Monday Troy went to a rural village where he was exposed to some of the poverty and remoteness that is common place on this content. The trip was an assessment trip and we have applied for relief funds to do some ministry in that area. We will probably go back three or four times for training, ministry, and checkup. It is ironic that they have cell phones and computers (even if they must use generators to run them). I will discuss this village and this relief project more as time and trips go on
            Last evening, we went to a farewell/welcome/birthday party at Alice’s school. Most importantly we witnessed a baptismal service in the Victoria Nile for four of the students. Although the host has a swimming pool the youngsters wanted to take a steep hike down to the River. Troy and Alice watched and took pictures from the bluff behind the house. Let us know if your picture doesn’t show.
            We miss all of you and greatly enjoy the bits and pieces we hear back and see on Facebook. Thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts they sustain us more than you will ever know. Let us know how we can better pray for you and your Christian walk.
          “Always be joyful. Pray continually, and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17
Blessings and Grace heaped upon you all,
 
Troy and Alice
 
Baptism in the Nile

Received 11-5-16

November 5, 2016
 
 
Greetings from Jinja!
This week God has given such sweet blessings. Troy talked to Moms, we managed to FaceTime Olene, yesterday we talked to Travis, and this morning we made a date to FaceTime with Beth. It is sweet indeed to touch family from half the world away.
 
Our house wiring had hardly been touched for several decades, so the electrician was here this week to rewire. During the process, various parts of the house had lights and other parts had outlets. We now have the washing machine plugged into a cord that loops from one window to another across the back of the house and all the kitchen appliances are plugged into a power strip with a cord that is plugged into the hall wall 8 feet from the kitchen. Our stove was returned yesterday from Kampala where it had been sent for R&R (recovery and repair) and it came back yesterday with knobs everywhere there should be knobs and most of them match!
 
This past week we walked to Main Street a couple of times (pictured above). Sometimes we feel more like Africans than Mzungu (white people). We still look like Mzungus on the outside, but inside we are feeling more at home. Troy went to the seminary when he had time and the electrician wasn’t here. He sat in on some classes and continued working on his projects there. Alice’s week at school was good, although Monday and Tuesday the kids were still longing for Kassidy. But that is easy to understand because we miss her, too. Alice has one more week before the next two weeks of seminary classes start again. 
 
Please pray with us that our developing friendships with the Indian Hindu businessmen whom we met will continue to bear fruit, that we will be able to be an encouragement at the monthly missionary gathering, and that God will continue to lead us into opportunities to share the abundance of school supplies you donated to the children who have no access to luxuries like crayons and construction paper. But even more than these things, please pray that we work with one heart and one purpose to bear witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
Blessings to you, in His Holy Name,
Troy and Alice

Rainy Season in Uganda
Good morning sweet friends!
 
It is 2:30 PM November 12  here in Uganda, so most of you are just waking up in the states. I want to share a closest to Christ moment with you to start your day: If I need to copy large quantities of items for my school room, we go to one of the little businesses on Main Street where a person can get copies for pennies. I went into Beatrice’s little booth where I like to go to get copies and Troy waited in the car parked at the side of the street. By the time I got back he was in a conversation with the parking guard—I’ll call him Jamal. When I got into the car, Troy was promising to pray for him, and the man was very glad, saying, “Yes, that is the most important thing, to pray to God.” This incident may seem like a tiny thing, but it points out to me that we all are surrounded with opportunities to share and surrounded with people who are hungry for a touch from God. 
 
Misti, our team leader, and her husband Anthony picked up her parents, Lynn and Sue McKee, at the airport Monday night and we have a wonderful prospect to get to know them for these next couple of months. This is a lovely time to visit Uganda with the showers coming almost daily. Lynn brought some seeds for Troy’s garden (you can see the garden at the back of the yard at the left side of the picture) and Troy has already planted okra, beans, and HATCH GREEN CHILI!!! Yes, you read that correctly.  So, all of you New Mexicans now know that you have no reason to delay making your reservations to come to Uganda.  
 
I am beginning a little project here in our neighborhood. The woman across the street has three little children, two of whom are school age and apparently, they don’t go to school. Frequently the fees for schooling are too great for families, especially if there is only one parent. So, I consulted with the 1-3rd grade teacher at Kilombera, and she agreed to help equip me to teach these children how to read. I’m desperately wishing for LaVonn or another of my elementary teacher prayer supporters, but all of you can pray that I will be up to the task.
 
The other prayer requests in addition to “Jamal” and the little family across the street, are for the students at Kilombera, several of which are transitioning to different countries, for the people of Olok (Troy’s village ministry point), and for the current certification class and bachelor’s class at the Seminary where I’ll be teaching English classes for the next two weeks.
 
May God hold you in His hand and continue to be gracious to us all.
Troy and Alice

Troy’s team meeting with the gentlemen of Palissa
 
Happy Sunday morning to you!
 
            The picture above is Troy and his team meeting with a group of gentlemen from the Palilssa District where we do food distribution next weekend. The second man sitting to Troy’s left is from Olok, and will be working with Troy and me next weekend as we distribute the posho, rice, and beans. Two of the men are fellow missionaries, and the other men are from two additional villages in the District. We will be leaving Jinja Friday morning and returning Sunday night. Troy will preach (?) Sunday morning at Olok. Yes, he will preach. Please pray that the message will be helpful and that the Holy Spirit will direct the preparation and delivery of it as well as the translation of it. 
 
            We had a chance to visit the home of a lovely woman named Alice today whose daughter Eunice comes to our church. The village is on the Kenya road, right outside Jinja Town. Eunice has invited Alice to come to our church, but Alice goes to the Anglican church in her village because she feels she is needed there. I wonder how many people would attend a church if the other church members would make them feel needed and not just a number. We invited her and told her we thought she would enjoy it. Maybe that visit will bear fruit.
 
            Our prayer requests center around our trip to Palissa and Olok. Please pray that we will be good stewards of the bounty that IMB is providing and that Troy will be effective and clear as he communicates God’s word. Please pray that Alice will try a “born again” church even though her Anglican church is familiar to her.
 
Blessings to you,

Alice and Troy


Received 12-4-16

Some Children at Olok (from webmaster... sorry the picture was not available to post)
 
Dearest Family and Friends,
 
Above you will see some of the 500 children at Olok Baptist Church. Pastor Peter told us at lunch there are about 100 women active in the church, 70 men, 150 youth, and 500 children. The youth choir sang several songs this morning and there were also congregational songs and testimonies. There were several guests, and all of us spoke. Troy preached, then the cycle started again with more singing and speaking. We left shortly after 12 because James and George, the missionaries who preached at other churches came and our caravan headed back here to Jinja.
 
The food distribution yesterday in three locations in the Pallisa District was successful. At Olok We gave out food to about 240, not too far away George gave food to 125 (I don’t know the name of George’s village) and James gave food to 300 at a place called Kpala (not to be confused with Kampala). The distribution sites were churches or clinics. James’s site was a preaching point where there are plans to plant a church soon.
 
Pallisa is far deeper into the third world than is Jinja. It is not a tourist town, so the road there is several miles of dirt. It is difficult to find a place to eat and there seems to be only two choices of a place to stay. But despite these things, Pallisa is a huge town compared to Olok. Olok is simply a collection of houses, most are round mud huts with grass thatch roofs. The church has a tin roof and is quite large, as is the school. I’ll send some pictures in the coming weeks, but if I send them now, the file will be too big to fly.
 
Thank you for praying, and thank you for contributing to Lottie Moon. Because of that, aver 650 people ate yesterday and have enough food to eat for a week and to share with others. Continue to pray that the name of Jesus will be lifted up and that our efforts will help and not harm. Pray specifically for Pastor Peter and the churches being planted in the Pallisa District. Pray for the people here in Jinja, that the relative ease and comfort here will not blind us to the need in the rest of the country. Pray that the people in the US will be generous this Christmas season and give to Lottie Moon as well as the less fortunate in their own towns. Pray for us, that we will not grow weary in the task at hand.
 
We love you, and send blessings and good cheer to you and yours.
Troy and Alice

December 17, 2017

Dear Friends and family,
 
Today’s picture is the market in Pallisa. There are some markets here in Jinja in the open like this, but the main market is different. The individual sellers and stalls had closed off the traffic, so the government built a barn-like structure and ordered all the individual sellers to operate inside the building. So, we have what the people call The Grand Market. The streets around the Grand Market are still crowded with tiny shops, but most of the sellers are in the building. 
 
We are getting ready for Christmas. We have the tree up, with a present under it. Troy bought me a big drawing of an elephant. The wrapping paper costs almost as much as the elephant, so it won’t be wrapped. I don’t have anything for him yet, but I plan to go to the Market or Main Street soon and find something.  Our church has a children’s program this evening, and a few of us are having a progressive dinner Friday. The stores are playing carols, just like the states. It seems strange, seeing tinsel and Christmas decorations in the Hindu owned grocery stores. My little neighbor kids are coming this afternoon for peanut butter sandwiches and a nativity video. Tomorrow I am going with Evelyn to Kagoma for a party for her sister. That about wraps up our entire Christmas celebration. Praise God that Moms is picking up the slack and is having Christmas dinner with Beth and Travis.
 
The prayer requests this week center around celebrating the incarnation of Christ and praying that we will use this opportunity to reach others with the Good News of His coming and His sacrifice on our behalf. Continue to pray for Rhema, Manza, Hanifa, Jamila, and Aesha as they come on Saturdays and I try to plant the name of Jesus in their hearts. Continue to pray for the churches in the Pallisa district. The rainy season is over and they didn’t get any rain, so times are still hard there. Pray that Troy and I will keep our focus on Jesus and His plan for us.
 
Christmas blessings to you
Alice and Troy

Received 1-2-17

English Skills Class at UBS
Dear Prayer Partners,
The Christmas season was different here, but we still faced the same commercial misdirection that we have in the States. The City of Jinja had a big party Christmas Eve for all the children in town offering a bouncy castle and Mucky Mouse. I laughed when I saw the sign, but then I wondered if we Americans had wandered just as far with our Santa Claus and stuffed stockings as the children here with their “Mucky” and bouncy castles.
 
However, many Ugandan churches have much more emphasis on Christ’s birth than I have ever seen. Evelyn (our house worker) asked to work only half a day Christmas Eve because her village church spent the entire 24 hours Christmas Eve in prayer and praise, and she wanted to participate. There is an Anglican church a half block from our house, and they spend the entire evening singing and praying. Troy and I were moved and humbled to witness the focus on Christ in these celebrations.
 
New Year’s Eve brought a mixture of fireworks, dancing music, prayers, and hymns to our ears—with more volume and intensity than what is experienced in the States. Here everything is broadcasted with the greatest power possible to draw more participants, so we heard dance music from one direction and hymns and prayers from another direction and fireworks and whoops and shouts from two different directions. Again, this is symbolic of how we mark the beginning of the year in the States:  focus on seeking God always existing in tension or competition with parties and abandon.
 
I know that the New Year has started, but it is not too late to make a gift to Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  Lottie Moon pays for so very much and does far more good than I could ever tell about. We are so privileged to be your representative here in Uganda. You can give through the IMB and designate your gift for Uganda Baptist Seminary. The seminary receives no regular funding from IMB other than three salaries. Last year there were 315 students from 7 countries taking a total of 208 courses. Because of the poverty of Sub-Saharan Africa, UBS pays about 85% of the cost for the students to attend through private donations, otherwise the students would not be able to attend.
 
This morning we are back to normal, and there is still that subtle temptation to put God on the back burner and focus on getting on with the house repairs and lesson plans. Please pray with us that we will always make the main thing be the main thing; that we will not forget why Jesus was born and why we came. Please pray for our neighbor children, Rhema, Hamza, Hanifa, Jamila, and Aisha. It seems that Hamza’s malaria is in remission, so that is one answered prayer. Pray that Troy and I will continue to grow closer to God, and continue to reach the ones our life touch with the news of God.
 
Blessings on you and yours this New Year. May God hold you in His hand.
Troy and Alice Hahn

Received 1-8-17
 
 
A visit to Kagoma
Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,
Yesterday Troy and I went to the village where Evelyn and Andrew (Andrew also works for us and is Evelyn’s brother.) grew up. We bought bricks from their brickyard to use in our bathroom renovation. The top picture shows me with Evelyn’s mother and grandmother, on either side of me, and other women who are some of her other mothers and some aunts. The whole family lives in a circle of huts and houses and shares a common cooking area. I’m not sure how many wives Evelyn’s father has. Evelyn had never seen a church wedding nor been around a monogamous marriage until she met the Shelton’s and now us. She says she is learning so much about a marriage from us. I hope it is good.
The lower picture shows some of the children in the next generation of this family. It is a precious family. Troy is holding a cocoa pod and coffee beans. What more could a person need? They also grow corn, groundnuts (peanuts), bananas, and beans. They raise chicken, pigs, and goats. This is a remarkable farming operation, especially since they must haul water from several miles away because the wells in the village keep going dry. The villagers believe it is because of demons. The demons want the people to have to walk far for water.
We are going to Kenya for more training Friday and will be there for three weeks, so we will not be able to write newsletters for that time. The training is called 20/20. I know it is 20 days long, but I’m not sure what the other 20 is. We will spend a week in Nairobi practicing what we learn in the city environment, then we will go to the coast and practice what we learn in a rural environment. The last weekend is spent in the home of a Kenyan family. I’ll have more to say after the training, I’m sure, after I have experienced it. It is going to be tough to leave a month of lesson plans, but I’ll get it done.
Our prayer requests this week center around our training. Pray that we will have safe travels, that we will open our hearts and minds to receive what God has for us, and that we will benefit from this training and can become more effective in our witness. Pray also for my little neighbor children, for the Christian witness that we might develop in Kagoma, and that the church there in the village can stand strong against animism and the underlying hold that the witch doctors have on the people. Above all rejoice in the Lord, and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4:4).
Blessings,
 
Troy and Alice