Archive for category: MISSION: Uganda Blog

Greetings!

I trust everybody had a great Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful for. I for one am very grateful for my wife and kids, and now grandkid. I am also grateful America will no longer be ruled by Communists (at least, after January 20).

The event we have long anticipated finally came to pass. Our national pastor Zizi and his family were finally given the greenlight to emigrate to the United States. It was very sudden as such things always are. So we quickly had to pull together a Sendoff Service for him and his family, and other logistical details to help with their trip. I am going to miss my friend very much, but I am also very grateful he finally made it to America after six years of hope deferred. Unlike the 30 million illegal invaders that have been trafficked across our Southern border (which will be going back soon thankfully), Zizi and his family are LEGAL immigrants. They will have to walk through the process of becoming citizens, but in about 5 years they will all take the oath and become my fellow Americans. Which is awesome. Pray for Zizi and his family as they get adjusted to life in America.

In other news, after YEARS of effort, I have finally transported the last of the books from our container out to our Independent Baptist Church Library at Sangano. Years ago, pre-COVID, God gave me a vision for starting a library at the camp. Those people have nothing to do to fill the hours, except sinful things. I wanted to give them an alternative, and support our school in the process. So we raised the money, bought a shipping container, put out the call for books, filled the container with a lot of help from our church, got it shipped, fought our way past Uganda’s inept and corrupt customs officials, got it to Mbarara, unloaded it so they could shift the container into its place, reloaded it, and there the books sat for years while we worked out how to proceed with the library. We got some much needed help from some college girls who helped us sort and stamp all the books. Plus I lost a couple years to COVID. Then I had to raise money for shelves, and get the shelves built. All this time, I have been carrying books out there, a carload at a time, week in and week out, and as the shelving increased, we had books ready to fill them. Last week, I hauled out the last load. Glory to God! Every classroom has bookshelves full of books, 17 huge shelves altogether. Tens of thousands of volumes. God bless and thank you to everybody who helped make this possible over the years.

Pray for our churches, for the continued salvation of sinners, and most important, for their growth as Christians.

God bless and keep you!

Greetings everybody!

We are finally starting to get out of the dry season and into the rains again. It has been dry as a desert around here, so I am very grateful to get the rain. This impacts our people, who depend on that rain to grow crops. Pray their efforts will produce a good harvest and that they will have a bumper crop of food. Another effect of the rain is it fills our water tanks with clean water. They had been suffering for water and having to draw water from the lake, which is dirty, and also expensive (they charge by the jerry can). The rains filled our tanks, so now, instead of having to pay for jerry cans of dirty water, they got clean water from our tanks instead, and for free. One woman was testifying how she was finally able to get water for laundry, so she looks sharp for church. Something as simple as helping us build tanks for holding water has a big impact. Imagine if you had no water for drinking, or bathing, or cooking, or washing clothes. Much thanks to everybody who helped us put in water tanks.

I have been moving from church to church preaching, and teaching as per usual. God has been blessing our services. Pray for our deacons and their wives. We have been drilling down on the qualifications for deacons, and it has caused some ripples. You see, a deacon’s wife has to be saved, like her husband. And deacons have to have their houses in order, with a Christian wife and well behaved children. I am emphasizing leadership in the home, and responsibility to the church. Anna has been working hard to train the ladies, so they not only are saved, but learn how to be godly women, wives, and mothers. Women here are taught that you take your husband’s religion when you marry. So, all too often, the men will be saved, but the women remain unregenerate, and can become serious problems in the church. It is the sort of training that will pay big dividends, if people get it. Pray that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction, and wisdom to our deacons and their wives.

Pray for Pastor Zizi. The rains are slowly but systematically destroying his house.

Water floods in every time it rains. The house is beginning to crack in two, and is becoming dangerous. He is going to have to rent a place nearby because of this. I need to build a new house for him. I have had our contractor work up a plan. It will cost $10,000. Please prayerfully consider assisting with this need. It has become urgent. Pastor Zizi has been faithful. He has a wife and seven children. They need a home that will be secure, has enough space for them, and keeps out the elements.

God bless and keep you!