Immeasurably More - What happened next?
In 2021 we released the autobiography, Immeasurably More : Flying for the Way-maker, from Liz Parker, and were captivated by the incredible story of the Parker family’s commission to the work of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and their travels. From their four-year preparation in South Africa, to the sun-drenched land of Tanzania, the unexpected conflict of South Sudan, the fast-moving busyness of Kenya, and through to their current season in Uganda. But what happened next, we wondered?
Liz shares some of the ongoing challenges of missionary life, and the hope for the future she rests in.
This morning, an overcast Saturday, was a typical Kampala wake-up. Around 5am, the mosques began their daily call, the tinny loudspeakers broadcasting into every home and disturbing my sleep. I reached in the dark for my trusty earplugs, secured them in place and drifted back into undisturbed sleep. When I next opened my eyes, the sun was up, and my bedside clock informed me that it was shortly after 7am. On removing my earplugs, the harmonious singing of Uganda’s amazing and colourful birds drifted down from the leafy treetops outside.
It was time to start moving. Husband Andrew was due at Kajansi airport to pre-flight a MAF plane for his flight to Kidepo, northeast Uganda. Our boys were already up and making plans for a spectacular egg-based breakfast and groaning about homework. Our school year began on August 10th, so we are already well into the new academic year. Saturdays are a precious reprieve from school. I needed to consider how to organise my day around shopping, schoolwork and visitors from Juba coming for dinner during their stay in Uganda.
I must also factor in time to ferry my daughter to her social engagements, as it is not easy for teenagers to move around independently in Kampala. Much to their frustration, I don’t allow our teens to take Kampala’s notorious motorbike taxis on the hectic city roads, or travel on the crammed mini-bus taxis. Despite the protests of my teens, I think many parents might agree with my decisions!
It has been almost seven years since we moved to Uganda to work with Mission Aviation Fellowship. This is the longest time that Andrew and I have lived anywhere since we left home in our late teens or early twenties.
Andrew continues to enjoy flying small planes for Mission Aviation Fellowship. He is inspired by his MAF passengers and their varied ministries. These range from church-planting, evangelistic and relief work in refugee camps to practical development schemes such as well-building, charity construction projects, healthcare, or food security programmes. Occasionally, flying well-known dignitaries features in Andrew’s itinerary. Last October, Princess Anne chose MAF as her means of transport to visit the charities she supports in Uganda. I may have been a little jealous that I could not join Andrew at work that day!
Uganda is more than just a place for Andrew to work for MAF. It has become the place our children call “home”: the place where they understand how their life works. It is their school base, their centre for meeting friends, their church and youth-group community.
Uganda has also become my place of work since I returned to a full-time role as a Primary School teacher in August 2020. Teaching Year 2 in the school that our children attend is lots of fun, a blessing in terms of sharing in my children’s school life and of course, hard work, as any teacher could tell you! It is a constant opportunity for growth on a cultural level. I am continually challenged in learning how to relate to the mostly Ugandan parents and as I work closely with my wonderful colleagues in a culturally diverse staff team. I often make mistakes and cringe at my own lack of understanding about cultural norms or ideas.
Yes, Uganda feels like home- but it can also feel very foreign at times. I am keenly aware that, in the long term, I don’t really belong. I am not Ugandan. I don’t have the right to remain here indefinitely.
Our daughter is starting to feel this same principle as she completes her final year of school and plans for university or a gap year. At the end of this academic year, her student visa will expire: she will no longer have the legal right to live in Uganda. Ultimately, her destination is beyond the borders of Uganda. She will fly our Kampala nest- and my role as mum will be dramatically changed as I look on- and pray for her- from thousands of miles away. Thank you, Lord, for What’s App and the ease of modern communication!
These realities remind me to be thankful, too, for the hope we have as Christians. Philippians 3 v. 20 notes that we are temporary residents of any place we may reside on earth, so we should keep an eternal focus. Yet isn’t it brilliant that, while we do life, wherever it may be that God places us, we are never left alone to navigate our temporary day to day living? Jesus remains by our side. We can encourage each other - whatever our location- with His promise in our hearts, from Matthew 28 v. 20: “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
