Growing in Love – For God and For Others

/ Leland Sawyer / Leave a comment

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, the Apostle Paul says, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

  • Nothing we do, however many church buildings we construct, goat projects we begin, preachers we train, or Bibles we give – NONE of it matters if we do not LOVE!
  • No miracles! No healings! No prophecies! No great sermons! 
  • Nothing matters, if we do not love!

Last month, at the Leaders’ Conference, we focused on GROWING IN LOVE FOR GOD AND FOR OTHERS as a central element to growing up in spiritual maturity and leading others to grow up in maturity. In order for God’s Kingdom to grow deeper and wider, our LOVE FOR GOD and LOVE FOR OTHERS has to grow deeper and wider!
We can’t grow in spiritual maturity without growing in LOVE.
We can’t help others grow in spiritual maturity without growing in LOVE.

Paul wrote in Philippians 1:9-11, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Paul is saying that his prayer for those in the church in Philippi is that they can grow in love, more and more. That they will be known as a people of LOVE. Why does he want them to grow in love? 

  • So that they may be able to discern what is best – what God wants them to do
  • So that they may be pure and blameless before God
  • So that they will be filled with the fruit of righteousness through Jesus

He says that when they grow more and more in LOVE, then they will be more spiritually mature! 

He says it again in Ephesians 5:1-2, “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” If we learn to love the way that Christ loves us, then we will be following God’s example and becoming more like Jesus…that’s the definition of spiritual maturity!

In Matthew 22:35-40, Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment. His answer should stop us in our tracks!

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19, but He is doing more than simply quoting from the Old Testament. Jesus is directing His followers to focus on these two CENTRAL commandments, above all other things. He is connecting these two things together, as one command! He is telling those who follow Him that everything comes back to these two commandments: Loving God with all of yourself, and Loving others as yourself. 

The teachers of the law, the Pharisees, and all the religious leaders of Jesus’ time were focused on many laws and rules, and they argued – even fought – over which Law of Moses was the MOST important. Some focused on making sure people followed the Sabbath laws, the purity laws, or the sacrifice laws…but Jesus taught them that ALL these other laws come under these two: Love God! Love Others!

Love for God and love for others. 

Even still today, there are some of the churches and leaders we work with who are following the patterns of the Pharisees and focus on all the small things. Some of them are teaching and rebuking people in churches for the purity laws and cleanliness, such as:

  • A woman who gives birth is unclean for 30 or 60 days, and cannot come to church during that time
  • A woman on her time of the month cannot take the Lord’s Supper
  • A man who has sex with his wife cannot preach the Word of God the next day
  • Anyone who eats pork or other “unclean” things is committing a sin

Some people are becoming so legalistic on these “lesser laws and rules” while not being serious about the TWO COMMANDMENTS that Jesus tells us to focus on!

For us, as a mission, we are followers of Jesus. And we want the church leaders and churches we work with to follow Jesus!
Jesus was asked for ONE commandment. He said: Love God and Love Others. To Jesus, we can NOT love God if we do not love our neighbors. That’s the revolutionary thing Jesus said…that loving our neighbor is the same as loving our God. We cannot say we love God if we do not love our neighbors!

1 John 4:7-8 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

If we claim to be the church of Christ – 
If we claim to be disciples of Jesus – 
If we claim to be born-again in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – 
If we claim to love Jesus – 
We MUST grow in our love for God!
We MUST grow in our love for others!

We must look at our own lives, as if in the mirror. (Cue the Michael Jackson song: “Man in the Mirror” or James 1:22-25, whichever you prefer.)

We must examine our own relationships with God and see if we are truly LOVING GOD FIRST, even when the WORLD AROUND US DOESN’T LOVE GOD. Do we prioritize God above all other relationships and activities? Do we seek God’s will before we seek our own will? In a time when we often talk about “following your truth” and “doing what makes you happy” and “alternative facts,” are we serious about loving God with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, and all of our strength? And will we obey God and His Spirit, even when others around us are living according to the patterns of this world? Jesus says in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.“ Do we? How would our lives, families, relationships, and communities be transformed if we love Jesus enough to follow His ways above our own ways or the ways of the culture around us?

We must examine how we treat others and see if OUR LOVE FOR OTHERS SHOWS OUR LOVE FOR GOD or if we only love in word but NOT in deeds. As Jesus says (and then the Apostle John echoes), we cannot claim to love God if we do not love our neighbor. He says in John 13:34, Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” I must ask myself the very difficult question: Do I love my neighbor as I love myself? What would be different if we loved others the way that Jesus loves? We’re not talking about loving the easy-to-love people (though we need to love them, too). Jesus calls us to love the hard to love: the lepers and demon-possessed; our family and our enemies; Republicans and Democrats; Americans and non-Americans. He doesn’t just love us after He saves us. He loves us enough to save us, even when we are His enemies; even when we have nothing to offer Him (Romans 5:6-11 and Luke 6:27-36).

We must examine ourselves and see if we truly fulfill what Jesus says is the MOST important of all His commandments: Love God and Love Others. Jesus says, “and the second is like it.” Loving others as ourselves is equal to and an expression of our love for the Almighty God.

So let us GROW UP in our love for God…let us GROW UP in our love for others!

And when we are mature in our LOVE, then we can show others how they can too!

  • You can NOT teach what you do not know.
  • You can NOT lead where you do not go.
  • You can NOT give what you do not show.

I pray that each of us will examine ourselves honestly and transparently in loving God and loving others. I pray that each of us is encouraged and strengthened in our commitment – and our actions – to love God and love others.  And that by our example of loving God and loving one another, then we can lead churches, members, and the lost to also Love God and Love Others. 

But it has to first change in our own lives. It must start with each of us!

Memories from Tyler Homeschool Co-op

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

GUEST POST: Adalyn Sawyer

I have been at Tyler Homeschool Co-op since kindergarten. It has been a place for me to learn and grow alongside my friends and people who love me. It’s a place where I have not only grown physically and in education, but also spiritually. To honor my time at Tyler Homeschool Co-op, I wanted to share some of my memories of my time there.

1. What do you remember about starting your first day of school at Tyler?

I only know what I did because my friends and parents remember it. I had been going to a Ugandan school for pre-school, but I had to leave there because I was scared of the big kids because I was singled out for being different (not Ugandan) and it was overwhelming to me. I started homeschool with my mom before I was able to join kindergarten at Tyler. I thought that there would be more mean big kids, so I was scared. I was crying because I really didn’t want to go, but eventually, I calmed down and made two best friends in my class who have been my classmates for all 9 years I’ve been at Tyler.

2. What were some of your favorite special events you did?

I enjoyed when my parents would plan a fun day at school like “pirate day”, STEAM day, or Star Wars Day. My favorite thing that they planned has been Field Day. Field Day is a whole school event where student teams compete in different activities, races, and games. Parents and teachers were all around to help and the day was full of excitement and energy. I always enjoyed playing, running and having fun at Field Day.

3. What was your favorite year of school?

My favorite year of Tyler was around 3-4 years ago when I had Mr. Stu as my teacher. He was an amazing teacher and I really enjoyed learning from him. That year was also when my all of my friends were still at Tyler. (Several of them graduated or left Tyler after that year to go to a boarding school for upper level grades). I had Mr. Stu for 2 years and I really enjoyed those years because he taught us so much. He also taught us so many different sports, which I loved. I learned rugby, field hockey, football, netball and much more.

4. What were your favorite things to do at recess?

I always enjoy recess because the whole school usually plays games together, and I like being active. As I became one of the older kids at Tyler, I was put in charge by the other kids to pick the game at recess. Every day, I would have kids asking me the same question over and over: “What are we playing at recess?” Most times it drove me insane, but I would typically pick the first person who gave me an idea. My favorite games we played were zombie tag, capture the flag, and “the floor is lava”. My dad also had a gaga pit built, so we enjoyed that. We often went through phases of playing different games like football (soccer), dodgeball, and playing on the tire swing.

5. What has been the most impactful part of being at Tyler school?

I think what has most impacted me about my time at Tyler is how everyone cares for each other, and shows the love of Jesus to every one around them. In my last year at Tyler, we did service projects where our whole school would go to different organizations around Mbale and serve there by playing games with kids, sharing a time of worship, doing crafts or reading to them. It was really amazing when we got to the organization, how everyone there lit up when they saw us.

6. What will you miss the most?

I will miss seeing my friends everyday and being able to interact with them. I love how I am always surrounded by my friends, and they are always there to support me. I think that it is going to be a hard transition from seeing them every day to seeing them once a week.

Tyler Homeschool Co-op through the school years (August 2017 – May 2026)

How to Care for Missionaries and TCKs on Visits…

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe we are preparing for our 6th home assignment trip back to the U.S. and it’s hard to believe we’ve been in Uganda for more than 10 years. With those years has come some lessons learned, both on the field and while we’re traveling around the U.S. There are some things we have recognized about ourselves and about our family, friends and supporters over the years of our relationship.

First of all, to be 100% honest: home assignment isn’t a vacation or break! We are NOT traveling to and around America for a break from life and ministry in Uganda; we are traveling in order to report and raise support FOR our life and ministry in Uganda. We don’t refer to it as “furlough” because that suggests rest. It is not a vacation. Traveling to so many different places, staying in other people’s homes, eating too much food and drinking too much coffee is not relaxing. And while we are very thankful for the opportunities that traveling to America affords us (reconnecting with churches, friends, and family), it is often more stressful, more exhausting, and we feel more foreign as we visit so many people and places. It is an important part of our mission work, and we have learned over the years of travel, there are things we (and you) can do to help this time not be so stressful for our family, and other missionaries.

We are blessed to be loved, cared for, and supported through all of life – whether in Uganda or traveling around America. THANK YOU for asking good questions, asking us what we need or want while we’re traveling, offering your homes for us to rest, seeking opportunities to get to know us better, and helping us relax while we’re traveling. We see you and appreciate you! But we also know from our experience, and from the experience of others, that some of you WANT so desperately to bless, encourage, and help, but may not know how to help. So, HERE are a few ways you can help missionaries feel loved and supported while they are in their home country…

Always ask what they might need or want while traveling. This answer will be different for each person, but one easy answer is always extra funds! Travel is expensive, whether it’s for road trips or flights, expenses add up during travel. Other than that, here are some other ideas to help care for missionaries. But be sure to ask them what they need first!

  • Find a vehicle for the missionary to borrow, so they don’t have to rent one.
  • Have missionaries send lists of foods, drinks, snacks they like, and then provide goodie baskets of their favorite things.
  • Some families would prefer to borrow a house for their own space rather than staying with other people. If there’s an available house, try to make it available for them. But remember…ask them what they prefer!
  • Take missionary families to places to have fun: arcades, bowling, amusement parks, sports events, shows, etc. We like to have fun, and many of these things don’t exist where we do ministry. So instead of going to another restaurant or coffee shop, get creative and take them some place fun!
  • Help them make the time and maybe offer a place for them to have a family vacation. Cabins, AirBnBs, timeshares or beach houses all make for wonderful gifts amidst the chaos of America travel. But remember…ask them what they want first!
  • Some families might need missionary debriefing or a retreat, so help them make these opportunities possible.
  • Collect gift cards for restaurants, fast food places, grocery stores, fuel stations, clothing stores, and other gift cards to bless the family with extra funds to pay for things they need while traveling and for their return back to the mission field. Cash is even better!
  • Find ways to spoil missionary kids! Treat them with foods or drinks they miss, new clothes or shoes, toys or games, organize gatherings with other kids and help them feel welcome.
  • Families with small children might need babysitters – offer to watch their kids for meetings, date nights, or for their own personal time. This is HUGE!!!
  • Offer to help them in your area of expertise: Are you a counselor? Offer them free therapy sessions. Are you a doctor? Offer to help them with routine check-ups. Are you a dentist? Offer a free cleaning. Are you a chiropractor or masseuse? Offer them a free appointment. Do you own a restaurant? Offer to help them with catering or a meal. Do you have a fun car? Offer to take them for a joy ride. You’d be surprised how these things can really touch people and make a big impact!

Ask how you can be praying for your missionary friends, personally and as a family. Just like anyone else, we want people to ask about our life and our family, not just ministry. It’s often easy for churches and supporters to ask about the ministry, and it’s easy to share the ministry stories, especially the positive ones. You guys know us, and we are the people who share the “not so good stories” as well, so you can get a real picture of ministry. But our family also wants to connect with you on a personal level. It’s sometimes hard for missionaries to relate to people about our lives: our home, our lifestyle, the culture we live in is very different than America. But we genuinely want you to know our family, our dreams, our celebrations, and our challenges. And we want to know what’s going on in your life in America, as well. Leland recently wrote a BLOG POST about good questions to ask missionaries and Third Culture Kids, so check it out.

“Missionaries face a unique set of difficult challenges. They often battle spiritual opposition, navigate cultural isolation, and carry the emotional weight of being far from family, friends, and familiar rhythms.”

Personal check-ins are really important! Be a safe person for the missionaries and commit to praying for them as your brothers and sisters in Christ. Here’s a BLOG POST about how to pray for Missionary / Third Culture Kids.

For more reading, here is another website with insight on how to care for missionaries: https://pioneers.ca/supporting-missionaries-well-from-home/.

THANK YOU for reading this.

THANK YOU for caring about us and other missionaries you are connected with.

THANK YOU for loving us well!

Good Questions to Ask Missionaries & TCKs

/ Leland Sawyer / 1 Comment

A regular part of our life as missionaries is returning to our passport country for home assignment (previously known as “furlough”). This will be our first time back to America since the summer of 2024 (two full years) and our sixth such trip since we moved to Uganda in January 2016. Like many other missionaries, our home assignment is filled with activity – visiting churches and supporters to report on our work, additional fundraising, spending time with family and friends, and attempting to recharge our hearts and minds. These trips help us stay in touch with the people who enable us to do our mission and provide a brief respite from the stresses and strains of everyday life in a (beloved) foreign culture.

But these trips also come with their own stressors: It means living out of a suitcase for a couple of months and staying in the homes of other people; It means being on our best behavior as the spotlight is shown on us whenever we arrive at supporting churches; It means trying to compact our whole life, heart, and ministry into two, five, or ten minute sound bites to take advantage of the opportunity we have to tell others the stories that give the ministry richness and meaning. It means many miles spent together in a borrowed vehicle as our family travels from one location to another. It means trying to split our time between family members who want to see us and the work we need to do while in America. It means still maintaining a spiritual “presence” and leadership role in Uganda while also preaching, sharing, and living in churches across several states.

As another missionary states: “We’ve been told that Home Assignment is meant for rest. We’ve also been told it’s meant for fundraising. And for reconnecting with family. And for sharing stories and photos at supporting churches. And for finding new people who might be interested in our ministry. And for reflection and prayer and rejuvenating ourselves before diving in again on the mission field. And…and…and…” (Click THIS BLOG for the full story.)

For us…we are blessed! We are blessed because our hosts, supporters, and meetings are with dear friends and loved ones. God blessed us with the honor of serving with partners who know and love us, so our time is more relational than many other missionaries we know. But it’s still hard to be away from home while also visiting “home;” and with several well-meaning people assuming we are enjoying an extended vacation stateside.

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Uganda – From a Visitor’s Perspective

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

As we have mentioned before, we love hosting visitors! We are so thankful when people make the sacrifice of time and finances to come experience Uganda with us. Not only do they get to see the ministry, but they can also relate to our life a little better. In March, we had some very dear friends come to visit and we asked them to share their thoughts about their visit to Uganda. Hopefully this will encourage YOU to come visit, too!

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How to Pray for TCKs / MKs

/ Gina Sawyer / 2 Comments

For those who don’t know, a Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. A TCK builds relationships to all of the cultures they experience while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into a TCK life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of a similar background. A Missionary Kid (MK) is a subset of TCK – they are born or raised abroad, and have both the privilege and the challenge of growing up in their family’s place of ministry. Adalyn is an MK. She has spent 10 years in Uganda. She came to Uganda as a toddler and is now a teenager. She is part American, part Ugandan, with several of other cultures that have influenced her since living in an international community.

A TCK/MK has some unique needs. Here are some ways to pray for Adalyn as she continue to grow into the woman God has created her to be…

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Oh the Life We Live…

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

In the past, we have shared different blogs about the funny, beautiful and challenging things about living in Uganda – things that make us smile, things that drive us crazy, things we marvel at, and things that give us a serious laugh. I’ll list some old blog posts at the bottom of this post about the different aspects of life here. But in all of it, we regularly say “oh the life we live…”

For example, every morning, we wake up to ask the question “Is electricity and water on”? We have a small community WhatsApp group that is regularly messaging about power or water issues. It’s an every day thing! We are used to it, mostly. But there are time when electricity or water has been off longer than anticipated, so we have to ask others to determine if it’s an area issue or only at our home. There is solidarity of community in “suffering” when electricity or water is off for everyone, rather than the panic and going into “fix it” mode when it turns out to be just our house.

There are many times when products are no longer in stock – staple items that you might not fathom could be out of stock for months at a time. There was a period of several months when the ladies in the community were having ongoing conversations about how butter had been gone, and we were not sure how long it would be gone, so when some of us traveled to Jinja (about 2 hours away) for a weekend and found 6 sticks of butter – we bought them all! Frozen chicken and beef are regularly not missing. Yes, I could get a live chicken and slaughter it myself, but I have my limits. 😂 A good brand of toilet paper many people really like went out of stock without any knowledge of when it will come back (and yes, we have a favorite toilet paper). You might be thinking, just get another brand of toilet paper, but that’s easier said than done. Most of the options are either like using a soft sand paper or tissue paper – not ideal. 🤨 I don’t usually trust box food (cake mixes, cereal, oatmeal, bread crumbs, etc) because I’m unsure how long it’s been on the shelves and I have found them full of weevils on many occasions. No thank you! We also get excited when a new product comes into town for a little while, like chocolate chips, shampoo/conditioner, cream cheese, or American-recognized brands. We can’t expect them, so it’s a nice treat when “special” items arrive. We never know how long they’ll be there, but we rejoice for the moment. And we often take photos to share with one another, in case someone else might want the product.

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Goals & Plans for 2026

/ Leland Sawyer / 1 Comment

January is a time of year of dreaming big for what’s to come! It’s an exciting time, full of hope and possibilities. People make resolutions, big life changes, and dare to dream BIG! As a mission here in Mbale, we also want to dream (and PRAY) for big things in this New Year!

We are praying BIG THINGS for 2026. The first BIG thing we are praying and planning for is the Leadership Team. Last year, we started meeting regularly with leaders, who have been discipled and moved closely with over the past decade, to involve them in decisions, planning, discerning, and guiding the overall ministry. These are leaders who have traveled around with us to visit churches near and far, so they have a feel for the needs of leaders from all over Uganda. They are also men and women who we’ve seen fruit of spiritual maturity in their lives – and seen them actively making disciples – so they are able to think of Godly solutions in difficult circumstances. This year, our plan is to empower them more and more as the year goes by, so that their voices grow and their impact deepens. We believe this kind of leadership team is vital to the future of the mission work here in Uganda.

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Journey to Uganda – 10 Years In

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

Many of you have asked how we got to Uganda. Some of you have been with us throughout the long journey, but some of you are new to reading our blog and don’t know the full story. So, as we celebrate 10 years in Uganda, here’s the story. It’s a long one, so be prepared….

In 2010, Leland and I went on a “once in a lifetime” trip to visit our friend who was living in Nairobi, Kenya. We went on safari at Masai Mara, and then we took a 12-hour bus ride across the border to Jinja, Uganda to white water raft on the Nile River. Like I said, it was a once in a lifetime trip! One evening, Leland and I were walking around the village near the camp we were staying, and we asked the question “Could we live in a place like this? Our friend lives here, could we?” And thus the seed was planted…

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Recap 2025 – Ups, Downs, and In-Betweens

/ Leland Sawyer / Leave a comment

Another year of ministry in Uganda has come and (too quickly) gone by. This has been YEAR 10 for our family serving in Uganda, and each year seems to get busier and go by faster. Here are a few highlights of the year in ministry:

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