Family

Australia & New Zealand 2023

/ Gina Sawyer / 1 Comment

We had three weeks to explore 1 continent and 2 countries, with Australia alone being as large as the continental United States. So needless to say, we did not see everything, but we did do A LOT!

Let me give you the highlights of our trip…

We arrived in Aukland, New Zealand and started with the U.S. versus Vietnam Women’s World Cup game (WWC games were on the top of Adalyn’s to-do list). The U.S. won and it was such a fun and friendly environment. We then drove down to Wellington, New Zealand for the second U.S. game against the Netherlands. We stopped along the way to see glow worms in Watomo Caves and Hobbiton (the movie set location used for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit film trilogy). We also went zip lining in the forest (another favorite of Adalyn) and went to a cultural experience about the Maori people. It is always fun for us to engage with and learn about new cultures, plus try new foods. We drove through Mount Tongariro National Park where it snowed on us, we got a glimpse of “Mount Doom” and we hiked to “Gollum’s Pool” (again from Lord of the Rings trilogies).

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Summer Visitors

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

This summer has been full of visitors. It’s the first post-Covid summer that people are back in full swing of international travel, so we were blessed to host many friends over the last couple months.

The first visitor came at the end of May. We had the pleasure of having one of the mission founders, Shawn Tyler, stay with us for a week while he was visiting in Mbale. We enjoyed a village church visit, meeting and reconnecting with the mission staff, and organizing three separate village seminars teaching on the importance of the Lord’s Supper. In all, we taught over 210 church leaders from 51 churches the relational, Biblical, and practical aspects of taking the Lord’s Supper together as a church family.

After his visit, Ryan Hayes (former missionary to Malawi) and Blazio Styford (his Malawian teammate) came to Mbale to conduct a training for village churches interested in forming Village Savings & Loans groups. We had over 140 participants in the sensitizations meeting and 47 churches signed up for further training.

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Sawyer Family Farm

/ Gina Sawyer / 1 Comment

Since we moved to Uganda in 2016, we have often used the phrase “I never imagined I would say/do/have…” and we have learned a lot over the last 7+ years. One of the main things that has surprised us is the large garden we have at our house. With both of us being “city” people, garden and farming were never in our vocabulary.

We started with a few small beds of fruits and vegetables that we couldn’t get in Uganda, and we have expanded our garden to have many options. We grow our own sweet corn, colored bell peppers, jalapeños, lettuce, squash of different types, tomatillos, sweet potatoes, strawberries, cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, and green onions. We have banana trees, mulberry/blackberry bushes, jackfruit tree, avocado tree, mango tree, and orange trees. We also grow local foods like beans, maize, potatoes, tomatoes, and greens to share with our neighbors. It has been a blessing to be able to make meals out of the vegetables from our garden, and to share our abundance with friends around us. It is certainly not something we imagined we’d do with some of our time, but we continue to expand our family farm.

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7-Year Ugandaversary

/ Gina Sawyer / 4 Comments

We are happy to celebrate 7 years of living in Uganda. It is hard to believe it has been that long, and at the same time, it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long at all. Like any place, there are things that frustrate us, but there are also many things we love about living here. There are many things we count as blessings and there are many things that make us shake our head and laugh. It’s a fun mix, and God is always faithful in reminding us that He’s got us.

So with that being said, We want to share some fun everyday life items with you….

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Adalyn’s First Decade

/ Gina Sawyer / 2 Comments

Adalyn turned 10 years old today. Double digits! For those parents who have already walked through this journey, you know how quickly time flies and how fast kids grow. Adalyn is a blessing to our family and we are so thankful for who God has made her to be. She is funny and compassionate; she is fiesty, sarcastic and adventurous; she loves being at home but she also loves traveling to experience new things; she loves our life in Uganda but she also misses her family and friends in America. She is independent, courageous, smart, thoughtful and forgiving. We love her dearly, and we hope you enjoy watching her grow with us.

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Summer Visits 2022

/ Gina Sawyer / Leave a comment

There’s always mixed-emotions with our trips back to America. While we love seeing friends and family, it is also busy and exhausting. Yet it is also life-giving and refreshing. And then we also have to say goodbyes, which are always hard. Our life as missionaries is “both/and”, a paradox of emotions (yay ducks and yuck ducks). And this trip was a whirlwind! We stayed for 2 months, so a bit longer than home assignments pre-Covid. With visiting more churches this time, it was busier, with even more travel. But it was also SO GOOD! For those who are interested and don’t already know, here is a recap of our summer travels in the U.S. We left Uganda at the end of May, spent a couple days in Istanbul to break up the long travel back to America and to adjust back to “western culture”, then continued to Dallas and Houston for a couple days to get over jet lag and see our parents.

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Looking Back on 2021

/ Leland Sawyer / 1 Comment

As you are aware, 2021 was another “different” year. We continued to balance the important ministry God has for us here with concern for safety, health, and making wise decisions. Ministry, as well as everyday living, continued to take on new forms on a regular basis. Here are some highlights from 2021:

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BIG December!!!

/ Leland Sawyer / Leave a comment

Wow, December has been such a busy and great month. November was too…but that was last month. Today, we’re focused on December!

The first week of December was our theological classes, MTI. This was the first time since May that we’ve been able to have full classes, due to lockdown and Covid restrictions, so we were overjoyed about the opportunity. We had a total of 30 students come for teaching, discipling, and sharing.

During the week of MTI, our family also had some celebrations. Adalyn has been taking a dance class from a missionary here in Mbale since September. They worked so hard over the past few months, even overcoming practice cancellations due to Covid, to put together a lovely Christmas Dance Program. In all, there were 12 dance routines, six of which Adalyn participated. She went into dance a little reluctant, but in the end, she thoroughly enjoyed it! She persevered and reaped the blessings! It was also really fun for us to watch our beautiful little girl shine and enjoy something that isn’t usually her cup-of-tea.

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Happy Birthday Adalyn!

/ Gina Sawyer / 3 Comments

Adalyn turns 9 years old this year. This will be her 6th birthday while living in Uganda. She has grown up in Uganda – she has gone from a spunky little toddler to a tall girl who has her own unique personality (still spunky). She is caring, sassy, athletic, silly and compassionate. She loves almost everything active, but she also loves chilling as a family with movies or video games. Here are the annual questions for her birthday.

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Unique Community

/ Gina Sawyer / 1 Comment

One aspect of missionary life that I was not anticipating is the close-knit community that surrounds us here in Mbale, Uganda. Not only do we live among like-minded people serving God through different ministries here, but we all are away from our home cultures and need to rely on each other for life stuff. Whether it’s celebrating Thanksgiving together, helping a family who needs medical treatment, someone who has to leave unexpectedly, or having a pool party to celebrate the end of the school year, it is a beautiful thing called COMMUNITY. And while being a close-knit community also has challenges, we are thankful because not all missionaries have community like we do. And not all people have relationships that are connected through the desire to follow God to wherever He calls.

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