Candidating in Hawaii

Mark and Dayna Blair

4614 Grand Avenue

La Canada, CA 91011 USA

15 December 1990

Dear Seton and Peggy,

     Merry (or if you must, Happy) Christmas! It was great to hear from you recently. Thank you for the map of Uganda. We thought of you as the record snowstorm recently hit England. Hope

you were safe and warm. I'll bet you wished for the African sun.

     We are in the midst of the holiday season here. The shopping malls have decorated all their windows and Christmas music plays along in concert with the ringing and humming of the computerized cash registers. Its great not to have to carry heavy sacks full of money, just one small piece of plastic is all one needs. Nathan has asked me for a Bankcard so he can get cash from the money machines like we do.

     We will be flying to Hilo, Hawaii on 10 January. I will preach at the Haili Congregational Chruch on the 13 and the 20th. Then the congregation will vote whether to have me as their Pastor. Either I will begin in February or begin swimming back to California on 21 January. We are looking forward to beginning our ministry there. It is the church where Dayna grew up and where I worked as an Assistant before we went to Uganda. They have a Christian school, pre-school through the sixth grade, about 300 kids, where our boys will attend.

     We are forever grateful for your love and leadership as we served in Uganda. It was an amazing privilege to be mentored by a couple that had been in Uganda almost 50 years, was involved in 8 language translations of the Bible, and had walked so faithfully with the Lord through so many challenges! Thank you for pouring so graciously into our lives!

There are many aspects of our life and work in Uganda which we will miss. Yet we are eagerly looking forward to this new ministry opportunity and challenge. We pray that we will be able to share something of our perspective on the world and its needs. Youth With a Mission has their "University of the Nations" on the other side of the same island. I hope some good opportunities of sharing and learning may result from the contact. As futurists look to the "Pacific Rim," it will be a great opportunity to share the gospel in that part of the world. Please pray for us.

     You will be in our thoughts and prayers as you continue with your equally vital work for our Lord. We are grateful for the many friends, like you folks, we have made through our years with

AIM. In these past months here we have felt very encouraged and supported by those in the US office. Although they wanted us to remain with the mission, they have been supportive as we sought the Lord's guidance for our next phase of ministry.

Love from us all, Mark, Dayna, Nathan, Josiah, and Aaron

Kind Words from Bishop Kauma

Farewell Uganda!

Mark and Dayna Blair

4614 Grand Avenue

La Canada, California  91011

ph (818) 790-7746

Africa Inland Mission

 P.O. Box 178

 Pearl River, New York 10965

Fall 1990

Greetings from Southern California,

     

In our last letter we requested prayer for guidance, thinking we had at least one more year in Uganda. Shortly after you began to pray, we were moving back home.

    Our abrupt departure was because of the serious illness of Mark's father. Four days after our return he died of cancer. We were very grateful to be with him for at least those few days. We are now glad to be home with the family at this time. We have begun our mission furlough, or "home assignment."

    

Besides the family crisis which prompted our leaving, we were beginning to sense a completion of our work in Uganda. We had fulfilled many goals we had set as we went out in 1983. In our seven years we had some part in the training of several hundred Ugandan Pastors. We helped raise the vision of many Ugandans for world missions, especially to Islam. We had opportunities to share the gospel with many, even the President! We have seen tremendous improvements in the nation, becoming a more secure, stable, developing country. We began to wonder what was next for us.

     

We took the decisive step of selling, shipping, or giving away all that we owned in Uganda, all within two weeks! As we have returned we have seen the Lord provide for our needs. We have rented a small furnished house just three blocks away from Mark's mom. We have brought our three young Ugandans to this foreign country. Nathan has begun first grade at the La Canada Elementary, where Mark went to first grade! Josiah and Aaron attend pre-school two mornings a week at a local church. In an effort to supplement our support, Mark has gotten some interesting part time jobs; as a mime, serving eviction notices, and as a Pastor on call at a funeral home. He is still trying to write about Islam in Kampala.

     

We have begun to share with supporting friends and churches here in California. We are eager to meet with more of you. We are planning to drive across the country to share with friends and churches, making a home base in the Philadelphia area for a couple months. At this point we are thinking about traveling eastward in March or April, returning westward in June or July. We would like to know if and when you would like us to come. Please contact us here in California.

     

We sense that we have come to a beginning, not an end. Uganda has been a training ground of growth and learning for us. We have written to a few close friends and church leaders in Hawaii asking about ministry opportuties.  We pray for the Lord's guidance as we commit our way to Him. We will miss many friends in Uganda. Yet we feel that to the best of our ability we are seeking to follow the Lord. We ask you to be praying for us.

Our God is great and mighty! Praise Him!

Eager to hear from you,  Mark and Dayna, Nathan, Josiah, and Aaron

Unreached Peoples in Uganda

Uganda School of Evangelism

Attaining Higher Ground

Challenges in Uganda