MISSION: Uganda Blog Post 03-11-2024

Good morning everybody!

It has been a true joy to be back out at Nakivale, laboring in the field.

A few weeks ago, we had a kidnapping. Human traffickers went into a church member’s home in broad daylight and took off with their 3 and 4 year old children, who were sleeping in a back room. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. The church put up posters. We went to the local police station, and also informed the checkpoint police who guard the entrance to the camp and are supposed to be on the lookout for smuggling. Most important, we got people praying. God answered, and the children were returned unharmed within 24 hours.

Human trafficking is a huge problem in Africa. The same week the children were kidnapped, an article appeared in the national paper about children being stolen to sell overseas via crooked “adoption” agencies. Another threat — the one we feared the most — is when they use children for ritual sacrifice. Which is to say, murdering them and using their body parts to make charms for witchcraft, or burying them to appease local deities in preparation for building a house or a road. Yes really. The refugees are targets because they are people without a country and are perceived as easy victims. Please pray for our children.

Now for the good news. God has provided enough money so that we can begin building a new church building at Kabazana. I brought my contractor to the Kabazana church on Sunday so he could survey the property and begin preparations for rebuilding and upgrading. Thank you to all of you who have given sacrificially to make this project possible. The church is rejoicing at the good news!

We will be keeping our original structure to become a classroom, and building a new 8 m (26.25 ft) by 18 m (59 ft) structure, along with a baptistry, a water reclamation tank, a new toilet, a gate to better control access to the property, more benches and a new pulpit, and we will be using the dirt generated for landscaping. It’s going to be beautiful when it is done in about 3 months.

I have enough to do all of the new construction, but we will need a bit more to refurbish the old building and make it suitable for use as a classroom. Mostly, it needs cement repairs and a fresh coat of paint if anyone felt led to give toward this.

Stay tuned to this website for frequent updates on the progress of this exciting project. I am grateful to God for His gracious provision!

I’ve updated the projects page on our website to reflect God’s provision. You can watch there for updates and see the other projects that still need funding.

Thank you all for praying and for helping us!