Our Weekly Devotionals

Letter 10 - November 16, 1901

Nabumali School Compound, Bugisu. To her sister Margaret, Yorkshire

My dearest Maggie,

Tonight, I am writing by candlelight - the lamp oil has run low, and the new shipment hasn’t yet arrived from Mbale. Mary is asleep beside me, one arm tucked under her chin, the other holding the small doll you sent. She calls it “Nankya,” after a classmate from nearby Buganda who shares her boiled sweets and sings the loudest in devotions.

There’s something I’ve been learning lately - or perhaps relearning. It is this: rest is holy. Not the kind of rest that comes from sleep (though I crave that too), but the kind that comes from knowing you’re in the center of His will, even when everything around you seems uncertain.

The compound is quiet now. The children have gone, the chickens are roosting, and William is still out visiting a family in Bufumbo. I sat outside for a while tonight - alone on the veranda. The hills were layered in shadow, and the stars blinked out like oil lamps in reverse.

And I found myself thinking of Psalm 4:8:

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Sometimes, safety is not a place. It is a Person.

Maggie, there are days I feel tired down to the marrow of my bones. But there are also moments like this - quiet, still, unshaken - when I know that He sees me. And that is enough.

Please kiss the children for me. And tell Father I still remember the smell of his boots by the fireplace and the sound of his voice at vespers.

With all my love,
Ethel