Baptism. It’s how we Baptists got our name. I conducted my first Baptismal service out at Nakivale refugee camp a few weeks back. It went great. I must say, I was a tad nervous, but I am happy to report nobody drowned. One of the advantages of my height is that I have the leverage to baptize nearly anybody. I baptized 5 brothers and sisters in Christ, and then we had a wonderful meal with the 3 churches represented. The church building at Sangano is fully repaired now. They are working on some cosmetic things (painting, cement repair, extending the front with an awning using the old roof pieces). Meanwhile, the church building at Juru has commenced construction. We received a gift from a church in Arkansas which covered the costs of the poles and iron sheets they are using to get started. Thank you! Later, they’ll build the walls and floor, which will require lots of cement. Pray the money becomes available to continue the construction. In the meantime, we can meet there and be out of the rain and the sun. It’s also much closer to the town center, which is a help to everyone.

We took a vacation last month, our first since coming to the field. Since we are only an hour or so away from Queen Elizabeth National Park, we decided to stay there for a few days and go see the many kinds of wildlife Africa has in abundance. We saw lots of elephants, gazelles, hippos, warthogs, baboons, Cape buffalo, and game wardens in their natural habitats. The kids got to swim lots, we spent time relaxing and playing games, and we took an hour-and-a-half hike down the mountain behind the lodge. It was great fun. Because we live so close, we can take these little vacations more often during the year, or just drive up there early, see the animals, have lunch, and then drive back to town. It’s one of the many perks of living here.

In other news, the rains are coming well and with regularity. Our garden is growing, so we will have tomatoes, zucchini, squash, corn, peas, broccoli, and very soon STRAWBERRIES! Plus, our banana trees have begun producing, so we are getting bananas from the trees we planted a year ago. As always, our two avocado trees are producing bushels of avocados, so it’s a good thing we like guacamole. Our young mango tree is finally maturing, which is awesome because I love mangoes.

I finally got the last of the money paid for the car, and I think I have located and fixed nearly everything that needed repair. It is a great blessing to have a reliable vehicle. I am getting a more powerful inverter constructed. Turns out you can get inverters built locally, much cheaper than the cost of a manufactured one. This is great because Umeme (world’s most hated utility) has gone to 12-hour every other day power outages (load shedding), and occasionally 24-hour whenever it suits them. I have finally got us upgraded to six 200Ah batteries, which gives us approximately 24 hours of stored power. The world economic crisis is hitting Uganda pretty hard. In addition to the high cost of fuel, which translates into higher costs for virtually anything manufactured or imported, we are seeing much higher costs for food due to the high inflation Uganda is experiencing right now. Some sugar plants have curtailed production, which has caused the cost of sugar to skyrocket. All these things, in concert with the high cost of energy, are really putting the pinch on everybody, but especially the average Ugandan citizen, who didn’t have a lot of economic advantages to begin with. Please pray for better government here. Uganda can no longer afford the levels of corruption and graft to which their government has become accustomed. Pray the economy will recover soon.

Pray about our house situation. Like tens of thousands of other Americans, we are upside down on our mortgage. We are looking into either doing a short sale, or trying to get another renter if that doesn’t pan out (the last tenant stopped paying the bills, and trashed the place before she skipped town). God has provided thus far, but if we could eliminate our house and it’s mortgage, it would be that much more funds available every month for the ministry.

God bless you all!

276 children. 3 days, 2 hours each place, 3 preaching points, 3 complete VBS’ a day: Marathon VBS at Nakivale! So, we had our very first VBS out at the refugee camp. It was quite the learning experience. I had for months been considering doing something like this. There are children everywhere at the camps, and little or nothing seems to be done for them from a ministry standpoint. Overall, it went very well. The kids were super excited, and even though Anna taught the lesson through an interpreter, they listened intently. The Betty Lukins stuff we were sent was great for this. I had put the word out about needing toy cars and other prizes, and my father’s church, FBC of Bellfower sent a box full of these, which arrived three days before the VBS. Excellent timing! The cars, bracelets, and necklaces were a tremendous hit, as well as about 30 wooden crosses, which we used for memory verse prizes (these nearly sparked a riot when we tried to hand these out to the winners – this was another one of those learning experiences I mentioned). Tom and Cheryl Tracht, some of our fellow missionaries here in Mbarara, came with us and their kids, and were a HUGE help to us. We had songs (in Swahili), a memory verse for the week (also in Swahili), the Bible lesson each day, and a craft (they loved this). At Ngarama, even some of the adults colored pages (I don’t think they had ever colored before) on the last day. Our adult workers at each of the places were extremely helpful. We couldn’t have done this without their aid controlling the children and relaying instructions. The whole experience, albeit physically exhausting, was very positive, and I look forward to the next one we do, probably near the end of January.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, I’ll be conducting their first Lord’s Supper at Sangano. The church just organized under a Constitution not long ago, so this is an important step. Pray for me that this will go smoothly. I am acutely aware of how this will likely set precedent, so I want to make sure it goes well. Continue to pray for the churches at Nakivale Refugee Camp in Uganda.