MISSION: Uganda Blog Update 10-15-2018

Greetings! 2018 has been the year for visitors. In August we had two young ladies from Faith Baptist Church in Layton, UT come for a month-long mission trip. Elizabeth Stoner and Isabella Brown lived with us and got to see everything about life on the mission field here. They helped us get the remainder of our library books sorted and stamped to go out to various libraries in Nakivale. They also aided us with Marathon VBS during the August school break. We had our usual approximately 500-600 kids show up at the four churches each day. We showed the Jesus Film for Children in Kinyarwanda and Swahili, and gave the gospel clear and true for all three days. Isabella and Elizabeth were both a great help to us.

Following the failure to find water underground, we installed two 10,000 liter cisterns at Sangano to catch rainwater (that’s 5200 gallons). The rain at Nakivale has been very good, with the result that they now have access to clean, clear, refreshing water. No more buying jerry cans of nasty, polluted lake water. This will ease their suffering during the dry seasons, and hopefully reduce, if not eliminate, parasitic infections.

In October, our Pastor Ken Spilger and his wife, Beth came for a visit. As is the custom here, because they are my wife’s parents AND my Pastor, each church planned a special service to greet them and feed them copious amounts of delicious Congolese and Rwandan food. Last Sunday, I baptized 15, including one whom I led to the LORD that day. The rainwater in the baptistry was clean, clear, and COLD. In the past, the folks at Sangano would have had to buy jerry cans of dirty water to fill our baptistry – no longer. Afterwards, my Pastor got to distribute Bibles to the new converts. Once they’ve had a chance to study the Constitution and agree to it, they will be welcomed to join Sangano Independent Baptist Church. All our churches are growing very well. God is good.

We are in need of bookshelves. A standard wood bookshelf will cost $80. We need several to finish our library project once and for all. The books are ready, but we need shelves to hold them. Would you consider sponsoring some bookshelves for the Independent Baptist Public Church Library system in Nakivale? For every $80 I receive, I will get a bookshelf made and hauled out there along with the books. Designate it “Bookshelves”, and that’s how the money will be spent.

We are coming home on furlough in June of 2019 and staying for 6 to 8 months. The primary reason for this furlough is to bring our oldest three boys back for college and to be in the states through their first semester. I realize that there are some of you that have not seen us since we came to Uganda in 2010. If you would like a visit, PLEASE EMAIL TO LET ME KNOW (missionuganda@gmail.com). I will soon begin filling our furlough calendar with meetings, so contact me if you would like to be put on the schedule. As always, I will be preparing a short video, and will send you all the link to show in your churches.

I would also appreciate any leads for new churches who would like to support a three-term missionary to Uganda. We could still use an increase in support. There are several large building projects that we need to undertake, each church could use its own cistern, and we’d like to start churches in at least two other communities in Nakivale.

God is working in the Nakivale Refugee Camp, and we are very privileged to participate in what He is doing. We could not be here, doing this necessary ministry, without your financial support and faithful prayers. Thank you for praying for us!