Hey everybody! It’s Deuce here with some great new stuff for you in this blog. First, we have a first impression of our ministry in Uganda from one of our mission pastors from Tyler. Then we have some exciting new video of our ministry and some special needs for Pastor Emmy’s own family. So enjoy!

Reflections from Trip #6:

We asked Steve Rumpf, Global Outreach Pastor at Grace Community Church, to share his impression of our ministry in Uganda. He and Jay Ferguson just got back from an eight day visit a couple of weeks ago. Here are Steve’s words:

In John’s Gospel we read that Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see!” Two thousand years later Jay Ferguson said to Steve Rumpf, “Come and see!”… And, so I did. Now I understand why so many people are impressed with the ministry of Pastor Emmy in Mbarara, Uganda. The sights and sounds of the children at class or the Believers at church are still strongly embedded in my mind. The PCM journey from such humble beginnings to the current scope of ministry to the future possibilities for huge impact on Uganda is refreshing.

I, for one, have never before been carried on the arms and shoulders of a gang of kids as I was as we entered the school compound. Ferguson was somewhere behind me, but all I could think about was being dropped! Dropped, I was not. What a fun yet scary, yet humbling, experience of being greeted by excited school children of all ages.

My job was two-fold. I was Jay’s videographer / cameraman and I also met with 19 of the PCM pastors to map out a strategy for future biblical leadership training conferences. 700 photographs later – after visiting five of the church sites and spending hours at the school – I had a good “picture’ (excuse the pun) of all that The Spirit of God has been doing with Emmy, Sarah, and the leadership team in Mbarara. Impressive to say the least.

The partnership with supportive Believers in East Texas is expanding on a monthly basis and the leadership at Grace Community Church is in process of determining what our commitment to leadership training can look like. Please pray with us as we seek God’s will on this.

Steve Rumpf

Global Outreach Pastor

Grace Community Church

A closer Look at Pastor Emmy

We thought we would take some time in this post to help you get to know Pastor Emmy a little bit better. A lot of times we talk about PCM only being two years old, but that’s just the USA part.  PCM was actually started a long time ago as a burden that Pastor Emmy and Sarah had.  I’m sure many of you would love to hear Pastor Emmy’s full story of his childhood, how he and Sarah met, and how the vision for Parental Care Ministries began. Well, we thought you might as well hear it from Pastor Emmy himself! You can check out his complete story in three parts on our pastors/ churches page of the website.

http://www.pcmonline.org/churches.php

Plus, we also have some new videos on our website. We have updated our videos page so you can check out some of those videos here:

http://www.pcmonline.org/video.php

We often hear testimonies about Pastor Emmy and his amazing vision and leadership such as what Steve shared above. However, because Emmy is so selfless we rarely hear of needs that he has personally. Well this week he was asking how he could pray for my family specifically so I asked him about his family as well. He let me know that he is concerned because two of his children and two of his adopted children are about to start secondary school for the term, but they are still trying to get the money to pay for it. My immediate thought was that we have a great leader of our ministry who is now overseeing the care and discipleship of almost five hundred children and he may not even be able to afford for his own children to go to school. If he were in this position of leadership in the States we all know that he would be doing very well financially, but he has done what was necessary to follow God’s call to help children who cannot help themselves.

So, I asked him specifically what they need and here are their specific needs:

His daughter Faith is 16 years old and is in Senior Level 3 now. She goes to school in Mbarara and her term fees are $513 for a term which is 4 months.

Faith Nnyanzi

His son Daniel is 13 and is in Senior Level 1 in Kampala which is 6 hours away. His term fees are $432.

Daniel Nnyanzi

Emmy and Sarah also have two of their adopted children with needs:

Winnie is an orphan. Her Dad died of HIV Aids and Her Mom is also very sick struggling with HIV and they cannot tell whether she will live through this year. Winnie has lived as Emmy and Sarah’s Child for 5 years now. She is now in Senior Level 4 and her term fees are $482.

Winnie

Amos Byamukama is also an orphan. His dad died of HIV. His Mom is also positive with HIV. He just got back from seeing his mom because she is very sick now. He will go to school with Daniel in Kampala and his term fees for Senior Level 1 are $432.

Amos

Please pray with me that God will meet their needs, and if you feel led to help with one of these children please let us know. We are excited because when we start building on the new land we will be able to offer classes for these older children, but we do not have room for them at our present schools.

Our PCM family would also love to pray for you and your family if you have any specific needs.  We meet for our staff meeting once a week and know that prayer is the foundation of everything we do.  We finally had a chance to take a picture of the four of us!  Please be in prayer for us too as we work to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Uganda.

It is amazing what a big difference two years makes, when the Lord is in control. Today, we went to the PCM orphanage and school again. When we went on Saturday, I was so busy knocking out the to-do list of video, photos, and testimony we needed to stop, look around, and appreciate what God has done. I had the opportunity to do that today. In just two short years, God has used the faithfulness of all of you to: i) provide clean water for the kids, rather than pulling it out of the river, as before; ii) completing the dorms (what will soon be only the girls’ dorm) with plaster and a portico on the outside, protecting the kids from the rain; iii) nearing completion on another set of dorms, which will house the boys; iv) two new classroom buildings, one a dedicated classroom, and one that serves as a classroom during the week and the church facility on the weekend; v) bathhouses and bathroom facilities that provide much cleaner, safer, and more modest facilities for both the boys and the girls; vi) a major gate entrance and fencing surrounding the entire property; viii) a culvert that diverts water and prevents erosion that was eventually going to destroy the school kitchen, and ix) landscaping throughout the facilities that, again, prevents erosion during the rainy season.

That’s not to mention uniforms, blankets, better food, mattresses, teacher training, and dozens of other things that Bub could remember, but I can’t. The point is that I was completely overwhelmed by God’s goodness and provision, working through the hearts of so many of you. I know I’ve said it several times during these blogs, but thank you again for your generosity and faithfulness. God has used you to perform a dramatic work in the lives of these kids.

We traveled to one of the churches in Kakagate, pastured by Januario (which sounds kind of Latin, don’t you think: “Don Januario”). Anyway, the purpose of our trip there was to preach to his church and several others, as well as several of the pastors in Emmy’s network. The funny event of the day came during the preaching portion of the service. Emmy led off with about a 10 minute introduction of Rumpf. Rumpf did a very good sermon about being available to God and not prejudging others, preparing to share the gospel at any time, in any place, to any one. It was your standard fare, 35-minute American sermon. Emmy asked if I planned to teach, and I said “no”, thinking with my American brain that the service had gone on long enough. Little did I know that Emmy was going to do a 30 to 45-minute “summary” of Rumpf’s sermon, adding his own points for good measure. When he finished, Pastor Januario stood and told us that these pastors had done such a good job presenting God’s Word that he was not releasing us, requesting instead that we continue preaching. And, the people agreed! I had a couple of barely illegible notes on spiritual gifts, based upon extensive preparation from the 25- minute van ride to Kakagate over bumpy roads, but it was all we had. So, I presented it. Emmy followed with another summary, this time a “brief” 15 minutes. We were afraid that it would keep going, and that we’d have to remember our commencement addresses from high school and give those. Fortunately, however, I think my message beat them into submission.

In an American church, or certainly one in my hometown, the congregation would have responded to two hours of preaching by calling out a mob to lynch the pastor. But these folks were staying with us, following along in God’s Word and taking notes. Amazing.

On our way back to the school to say our goodbyes, Rumpf drew some interesting comparison to Uganda, which has more of a western, Christian worldview, and other nations he had visited that were predominantly Islamic or Hindu. Rumpf was impressed by the relative lack of poverty, the depth of the people’s joy, and the cleanness of the area as compared to the surroundings of those other nations (trash everywhere, a heavy feeling of oppression, lack of education and personal freedom, and the like). It caused us both to reflect and give thanks for the redemption we enjoy in Christ, not only through salvation from death but also from the common grace that comes from a nation operating from a basic Christian worldview. The Church brought not only the gospel to Uganda (and to America, for that matter), but Christian values that resulted in hospitals, strong liberal education, (in the original sense, meaning an education focusing on reading and writing, with literacy with the goal, so that people could read and understand God’s Word on their own), the rule of law, private ownership of property, and many other things that come with a nation that originates from a Christian worldview. I was grateful to have come from a nation built on the gospel, encouraged that these things are being taught in my own school back home, and that they are being taught in the PCM school. As Rumpf observed, these are the potential future leaders of Uganda, and they are being taught everyday from a Christian worldview. To a great degree, the kids have a remarkable faith. As we left the school, all 200 of the kids laid hands on us, praying for us and sending us off. The depth of those little prayers was incredible, and it’s an awesome thing to have 200 little hearts who innocently love Jesus praying for you.

Rumpf summed the day up well when he said:

I’m impressed by the lack of extreme poverty resulting in starvation, the depth of joy, and the humility of Pastor Emmy. “He’s the real deal. I’m excited about the future value of a partnership with PCM. We’re really seeing future potential leaders of Africa here, coming out of this church and school.”

There is a popular song in Uganda, referring to this nation as “the Pearl of Africa”. Though by no means perfect, an underdeveloped country by most any standards, Uganda certainly has the potential to be a shining jewel of hope for Africa. And, PCM is a big part of spreading that hope throughout Uganda and, maybe some day (Lord willing) Africa.

Heading to Kampala tomorrow, by way of a world-wide church tour (just kidding—about four churches). I’ll talk about the Cows for the Kingdom program with the pastors tomorrow, assuming I can get the Internet in Kampala.

From Jay in Uganda:

Have you ever had one of those really great worship times, when you were gathered with a community of believers, and you felt such intimacy, such joy, such closeness to the heart of God that you were overwhelmed? Did you know you can experience that kind of worship, even when you only understand about 50 percent of what’s being said?

That’s what happened today. It was such a joy to watch all of God’s people at the Mbarara church this morning worship, and to join in that worship. There was wonderful singing and dancing (even the two rhythmically-challenged white guys in the room joined in!).

As Pastor Emmy addressed his congregation, he did so with great humility, but coupled with the authority that is given to him by God. Those of you who are supporting PCM might at times be wondering what kind of a man Pastor Emmy is. We all know and love the Barrets, and trust Mark and Monica, but what about Emmy? Rumpf captured what we were both thinking when he said that Emmy is the “real thing”—a humble, godly servant leader. We saw this for certain as he rebuked his congregation for some political lobbying that had taken place at church on several Sundays leading up to a local election. He told them that politics was in a separate realm of authority given by God than the church, and that they were not to bring their politics with them to worship. He rebuked them gently, with patience and love, and they received it well. It was obvious that it wasn’t done for our benefit (I mean, who in their right mind would rebuke their congregation for messing up in order to impress visitors! Put another way, if you had a board member present, as well as a pastor of an American church with whom you wanted to build a relationship, wouldn’t most pastors wait until NEXT week, when we weren’t around, to counsel their people?) It was a very authentic moment that revealed a lot to me about this man and how he leads his people. This ministry is in very good hands from the Ugandan end.

Rumpf did a great job of bringing the blessings of Christ from America and Texas. The people loved him, like we do. I had a Holy Spirit moment, as well. Rumpf and I just assumed Emmy would be preaching. Toward the end of the worship singing, right before he got up to introduce the offering and prepare for the sermon, Emmy leaned over to us and asked, “Which one of you will be preaching?” We were both thoroughly unprepared for that. I hopefully looked over at Rumpf, who boldly swelled up his chest and uttered, “Not me.” I looked down at my papers, and I had two Bible verses written down-that’s it. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would speak through me. I got up and preached those two verses. God got me through it. It was not the best sermon ever preached, but Rumpf said it went okay. Nobody to praise but God on that one!

In the afternoon, we met with 15 of the PCM pastors to discuss our continuing pastoral training plans.

We had some ideas about what to share with them over the next several years, but really wanted their input to see whether our ideas were relevant to where they were with their congregations. Turns out that the issues pastors face in Uganda are pretty much the same ones they face in America. It just goes to show you—human nature and the community of Christ are all universal- same issues, same struggles, same solution, same redemption.

The depth of the pastors’ insight was very encouraging. We’re going to be able to share a lot with these folks, but we’ll learn much from them, too. I think the general idea will be to come once or twice a year over the next three years. Please pray that God would be glorified through our time with the pastors over the next few years, and that their congregations would be transformed through our sessions together.

We must be heading in the right direction, because Rumpf and I have both faced some unwanted attention. We have faced some heavy spiritual attack over the past few nights as we slept (or attempted to sleep). But, God has given us victory and rest in His Son’s name. What a blessing to have a great Provider and Protector.

I’m going to try to give this sleep thing another try now. Good night.

From Christie in Orange, Texas:

Justin and I attended North Orange Baptist Church twice yesterday.  I guess Justin did more than attend, because he was the preacher!  He gave a strong, clear message from God that challenged us to ask ourselves, “Which kingdom am I building?  Is it an earthly kingdom or an eternal kingdom?” I wish I had a picture of him preaching, but I thought it might be a little strange to pull out my camera during the sermon. 

Last night at their evening service, we presented PCM.  North Orange is the church Justin grew up in and the church his parents and sister’s family still attend.  The presentation was a great time of sharing what God is doing through PCM as well as in our lives.  It was nice to look out and see many familiar faces who were excited about hearing what Justin is doing now that he’s a “grownup.”  Everyone was so welcoming and supportive.  Thank you, Pastor Scott, for the privilege of being at North Orange this weekend.

After both services many people came to our tables to find out more about our ministry and to buy t-shirts and necklaces to support PCM.

The really neat part of it is that 7 more children were sponsored by the members of North Orange!  What a blessing these sponsors will be to our Ugandan children.

One last thing…during the evening service there was a thunderstorm, and the power even went out for a minute or so.  It was fine because it came right back on and the storm was over when we were finished and heading out to the parking lot.  But as we walked to our cars, we saw an amazing thing.

It was a huge double rainbow stretching across the entire sky above the church!  Justin’s dad said, “I think this is a good sign for your ministry!”  We pray that we will continue to see God’s blessings and provision for these sweet Ugandan people.

Have you ever seen children so excited for text books?  Well, here you go!  Thanks go to the ladies behind the CCC Sale,  Laura and Tess for donating English textbooks for the children of all grades. We had some general fund donations (thank you Chuck and Ann) and we were able to purchase enough for the children to have books for all their classes.  They will share one textbook per desk which fits about 3 students.  Look at the true joy on their faces.

“Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name; make known among the nations what HE has done.” 1 Chronicles 16:8

On our last trip we asked the teachers for their #1 request.  It was simply textbooks.  One month later,  the books are in their hands. Praise God.

THREE THINGS TO PRAY ABOUT:

1.  Please pray for Adrine……..here is a portion of a recent email from Pastor Emmy

Her dad died of HIV AIDS recently and her Mother is also very sick,by the time her dad died he had already sold the only land they had looking for money for his treatment and he never recovered but instead he died. Now Adrine’s sick Mother has no home but staying with relatives. We have stood very close to Adrine to make her not feel that big gap in her life. I am glad that she is happy now with our Parental Care love we give her.

Did you know that every 14 seconds another child becomes a victim to AIDS virus by the loss of one or both parents.  Not all of our children at the Mbarara site are orphans, but even the ones who have a mom and/or dad are losing them to this terrible virus at an alarming pace.  We are so thankful for your support to be able to love these children as He has loved us.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”  John 14:18

2.  Pray for Emmy and Sarah.   Emmy’s stepmom is in a coma.  Many of you remember the story of Emmy’s stepmom and her mistreatment of Pastor Emmy as a child.  At one point she even tried to poison his food but the Lord allowed Emmy’s sister to tell him not to eat it. A few months ago, Emmy reconciled with her and with the help of another board member they even found a way to help fix up her home. We are still getting info about her illness so please pray for them.

Pastor Emmy just emailed me and told me there has been some improvement in her mental status but she still is not recognizing anyone.

3. Finally please pray for Pastor Reuben and Hallen. Hallen’s father died this weekend of kidney diseases and the funeral is going on this weekend.  I have no other details here but I do know that Reuben and Hallen are precious people and I am sure their parents are too.  Thank you for praying for her.  In addition we would like to thank the  families who have contributed to Reuben’s English scholarship fund (Langfords, Stevensons, and the Eichelbergers) . As Emmy’s #2 in charge, he realizes his English must improve to increase his communication and effectiveness with the ministry.  We are proud to announce he is starting class this August and will attend for 3 terms (1 year).

Greetings to the PCM Family,

It has been a few weeks since we have blogged but now that we are back at home base……. and the rest of our luggage was located near the Holy Land in Jordan somehow not making connection 3 of 5 on the return……….and actually was delivered in Tyler with all our contents…………we have decided it is time for a post.

Here is what is going on in Uganda:

At the school the children are enjoying their first holiday of the year. They have 3 terms.  The children that have a home and that have pastor fathers actually go home and the orphan children stay on site.  It’s a time of rest for everyone but a special time of fun and games.  I am sure the children will be playing the new games we brought as well as with their own games until everyone makes it back.

Pastor Charles is busy finalizing the new dorm so it will be ready for occupancy on their arrival later this month. Many of you know Charles as our construction pastor and leader for all we do with building at our site. He is battling every day of his life with HIV.   He was SO ENCOURAGED by the visit to Kampala with us where he and his wife spent their first night ever in a hotel, had a hot shower, and rode their first elevator. He sent me a  note of thanks saying basically thank you from his wife Grace. She had been really discouraged and wondered what he was working for with PCM, and now I think she might be our biggest fan. Praise God that we could give them this time together. It is only fitting to treat them like the king and queen they so deserve. I just wish I could more accurately display the joy on their faces as they sat at breakfast buffet each of the two mornings. Praise God for letting the Deuce and I share those moments.  It makes me want to pile all of those pastors and their wives in the Miracle Van at once……….and shower them with the love the Lord has prepared for them for their amazing sacrifices they have made for HIM.

Supermom’s hallways tend to expand with children during the break time as well.  She brings home her 18 or so adopted kids (most orphaned in some way) and they hang out at the Nnyanzi house for a few weeks.  Here is a picture of them having a meal on the floor of the passage way at their home. Supermom…….you are an inspiration to all of us parents !!!!  

Pastor Emmy is never still.  Always moving, always doing something.  He of course can’t stay off his cell phone…..always planning and talking to his 43 pastors.  He had an amazing time in Tanzania right after our trip.  Look at this email and how our sound  equipment with the help of our Happy Little Dump Truck is doing to serve God

Here is a portion of Emmy’s email:

We really give the glory to God for his amazing grace he gave me and the entire team while ministering in Bukoba Tanzania. My friend Pastor John Balole had invited me to preach in the Conference and Crusade he had organized. They had invited another guest Speaker from Canada. The conference and crusade started on 22nd to 25th April. Unfortunately the Canada Pastor didn’t made it because of Volcanic mountains who erupted and disorganized all flights. The Pastor in Bukoba called me and requested me to go with a team of preachers and singers,He also asked me to help them with our PA System for the crusade. So we went with a team of 18 People, and 3 of them were my children. I want them also to love how to serve the Lord. When we reached there,the Lord indeed gave us much grace in both meetings the conferences and crusades. So many people attended the Conference and also in the Crusades. The Holy spirit moved so much and we prayed for the sick people, some with demons and they were delivered. At the Crusade many mature people came to Christ. By the end of the crusade at least 84 mature people gave their life to Jesus Christ. And also so many Children which was about 90 gave their life to Jesus. People came in front of the parupit to be prayed but some of them were crying tears of repentance. The Pastor’s chairman and pastors of Bukoba Town also came to us and told that we have blessed them so much with the messages you have been preaching and we wished that it would be very good to organize another Conference where we shall bring all our churches together and we get one big conference hall. They all thanked Pastor John for organizing this one alone with his only church but they said let the coming conference not be organized by only one church but all other Churches will come together.They asked us also to help them in organizing this one. They said their church members have missed alot they are asking us kindly to come again.  Praise God.

Finally,  we want to share what has happened here in Tyler. Our team has been blessed to share at Grace Community Church (Old Jacksonville) and Green Acres Baptist Church (south campus).  We are so blessed for the awesome support of Pastor Doug Clark and Pastor Russ Jackson.  Together their churches have sponsored nearly 60 kids and given nearly 20 cows to our ministry. WOW WOW WOW WOW………….WAHOOOOOOOOOO as Pastor Emmy says. Pastor Doug  (here pictured in a moment of incredible strength from July 2009)……..that is a lot of bananas that you have moved your congregation to give.  PRAISE GOD!!!!!

Pastor Emmy is already excited for that day……hopefully in May where we will assemble those pastors to begin their cow training. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we could have nearly 1/2 of our pastors with a cow by early this summer.  Amazing.  Please be patient with us as we plan and prepare for these special gifts you have so generously given so quickly.  We are in the process also of trying to hire our vet friend Joseph to be our full time vet consultant knowing full well the value of preventive medicine and protecting your precious gifts to these pastors.  We hope to announce something here soon. He also is a pastor.  Yippee !!

This has created quite a bit of work for our PCM team (well ok…….mainly our most excellent child sponsor coordinator and email communicator extraordinaire Christie, or “DC”(  for Double Check as we call her) to handle such a load but she is more than able.  She is busy assembling a team of volunteers to help with our surge of new sponsors and supporters.  These volunteers are going to be so helpful as we are ready to announce our open house for Sunday afternoon ,  May 16th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.  It will be at our new office (come see where our team hangs out)  with a come and go event.  We will have a short program from about 6:15-7:00 pm where the Deuce will share his musical talents to open the program,  we will see some brief but oh so awesome videos (made by the Deuce as well……you will recognize the step up in talent in the video department right away from Bubba Productions), and see 1 or 2 slide shows of some of the pictures I have taken put to music.  There will be some new news to report, some  ways you can purchase some Ugandan special gifts to support us or even pick up a PCM tshirt if you need one.  We will have opportunities for you to pray at a few designated areas as well as our giving our first ever PCM quiz. See if you can get all the answers correct. There will be handwritten notes from the sponsored children to pick up along with your new sponsor sheet………..new and improved.

It will be a fun night so keep your calendar open that Sunday night May 16th………

Come worship WITH US that night at the Green Acres Outreach Center (where Good Sam is located) just about 1/2 mile north from Mother Frances Hospital on Beckham……5:30pm to 7:30pm.

Blessings to you all……….we are so grateful for your support.

Epa, Kiconco, Deuce and DC

Today was church Sunday……….a day for church.  We got checked out from the hotel, said bye to our bell boys Milton and Angelo, loaded the Miracle Van,  and we were off again down the main road toward Masaka Town.

It would take us 2 hours.  Just a few minutes outside of town Emmy Driver found some friends on the side of the road.  They came much closer than last trip through this area.

We took the main road another hour or so and then turned off to the village road. ;o)  I just love going through the village dirt roads. The people are so friendly.  They will often run out of their homes to see who is driving down the road.  When the children see us………..you can hear them almost in unison “MUZUUUUGUU”  (white man).   All of them are waving and smiling.  We made the trek past where we had the crusade and so many were saved in December.  Kind of a special feeling that place.  The Lord was definitely there back this December. 

Once we got to Reuben’s church, everyone was waiting. The church was in full worship mode.  Our arrival was met with much cheer as usual.  All the kids greeted us at the door.

We made it to our seats and service began all over.  Reuben was there and wasted no time leading his congregation in worship.

Can’t you just feel God’s presence in this building with this picture?  Many of you know his wife Hallen from our previous blogs.

She is my favorite singer in all of Uganda.  She had a repertoire of songs that were inspiring and thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Then we got up to speak and had a chance to share a few things.  I spoke on the advantages of being poor. I told them that they are a very rich people and they could teach my friends in America much.  I went on to share that being poor made them more reliant on God and each other.  They interact with each other much more than we do in our country.  Sometimes we live next to people in the US and we don’t even know them, who they are, or if they are hurting.  In Uganda, you know all your relatives and the church functions really well using the gifts and talents of all the members. People in Uganda know the difference between a necessity and a luxury.  I told them it is hard for a rich man to enter heaven.  The Bible says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  For them, the GOOD NEWS really is GOOD NEWS.  I told them that Satan has blinded the eyes of so many in our country.  People have so much that they don’t feel a need for God.  The need for God in Uganda is so big. It is everywhere. 

Then the Deuce got to share after I spoke and did his usual terrific job.

His words were inspiring and enough so for the children to climb the trees just for them to see outside the church. 

Pastor Charles then interpreted for Pastor Emmy in the message he spoke tagging on to both of our messages, one of his great skills as a pastor.

To take what he has learned and immediately apply it to another area of the Bible.  Truly amazing.

After the service, we were greeted by nearly the entire church one by one.  We made our way over to Reuben’s home and met his cow. 

His cow does not have a sponsor yet.  I had Reuben and Hallen give Deuce a tour of their home.

It’s the most humble place of all the pastors’ homes I have seen. You wouldn’t know it by their smiles from their front window.

He showed me how they were adding on a second room behind but needed the funds to buy a roof of iron sheets for it. It would cost just $125.  About 4 months salary for Reuben.  Many of you remember me showing you this home on the blog.  It is truly amazing that these 2 people can be so incredibly sold out to the Lord.  Their church is lacking nothing…………….their home is lacking everything. Lord help me to be like Reuben and Hallen.  Thank you for showing me what it takes to be a sold out disciple of yours.  They have given all they have …….and then some.  I forgot to mention that during the service their youngest child, Ezra, made it all the way down the church aisle, up on to the elevated speaking area and right on to my lap.

Ezra fell asleep there.  So friendly……….he is already learning so much from his mom and dad.            

We soon made it to Simon’s home. We had stayed so long at Reuben’s church that Simon’s church stayed for an hour and a half after their service but eventually decided to leave as we were still interviewing Emmy, Reuben and Hallen outside the home.  We did make it to Simon’s home where we found him out back with his new cow. The cow has been adopted by Jerry and Debbie White, Christie’s parents, and we have named the cow Jeri.

She has already taken up the personality of her owner Simon and lets him feed her from his hand.  So friendly and likeable. The Deuce decided to join the fun and play along.

Jeri wasn’t too much interested in his grass.  We sat in his home and visited.  I love his home.  So peaceful.  So full of the Lord’s presence.  Finally it was time to go.

We made it to Masaka. There Pastor Charles and his wife would spend their first night in 18 years in a hotel. It would be their first restaurant to sit down and order from a menu as well. I just sat there at the table watching them smile and laugh.

They had borrowed a camera and were taking pictures left and right.  So thankful for our supporters to give this great pastor and master builder a chance to rest and be treated like a king and queen. It costs us just $50 USD for this night for him. He has looked so good all trip.  The HIV is present, but the Lord’s presence is much stronger.  So thankful for every moment of every day that the Lord is giving us Charles.  He is one of our biggest blessings in this whole ministry.

Sula Bulungi (Good night) from Uganda.

The Deuce made it back to the school today as we still had more to do with them. We waited until their term exams were finished in the morning. That was a treat to watch them complete their final exams for the semester.

We had planned to bring apples again but we looked at every supermarket in the city before arriving.  No apples.  We decided on 25 loaves of bread (a snack they rarely get) and juice bottles for all of them.

Then we started to serve lunch.  What a thrill it was to reach in to that big giant pot and spoon out a huge serving of rice. We are to serve Him with all our heart as the Bible says.  Well, both of us tried to do that, but as you can see, Moses quickly ran up and showed us what serving was all about.

I am telling you these people have huge servant’s hearts.  Just when you try to help them, they show you another way to serve you. 

An exciting event today was the completion of the roof for the boy’s dorm. The final bricking was occurring as we watched.

Here are the children with Pastor Charles, our master builder, and by themselves in the window eagerly awaiting the day to get inside and sleep here.

Here is Samuel (our cook’s son) showing off his toothless grin with some of his buddies.

Next up was passing out an Easter coloring book Mike and Annette Childress had made especially for them. 

Have you ever seen 250 children get so quiet in a hurry.  I sat off to the side of the room with my new Canon friend camera and watched the light come through the roof and the windows.  A beautiful sight it was.

As another treat for finishing their exams, we cut the sugarcane and watched them go at it.  Basically you take the cane,  bite  (rip with your teeth) a piece , chew it,  and suck all the juice out of it, and then throw it to the ground. It was a sweet treat I will definitely share again with them.  ;o)

The Deuce then took the lead as he led them through the colors of the wordless bracelet. Then we managed to put one on every child.  They were so proud and honored to be wearing these simple bracelets.

Finally the highlight of the day was the sunset worship.  The children gathered in their PE uniforms and were led by Ronath, Marion, and Penlope through various songs of worship. 

With one beat of the drum these children erupted in spontaneous worship.

Wow……..if you could only be here to see it and experience it.  So wonderful. So honoring of our Lord. So beautiful. That is why we love this place so much.

Until tomorrow,

Love

Epa and the Deuce.

We woke up with a surprise 30 minute early phone call from Emmy.  It was a little after 7 bells.  We were headed to market.  I let the Deuce sleep and wanted to get an idea of how our Happy Little Dump Truck helps us. 

I thought the market was in town but it was about 25 minutes outside of town. When we got there Supermom, head cook Elsam and “One by One” were already there in the truck.  On first scan, this monthly market was in full swing.  They had a huge variety of everything that grows in the ground or on a tree.  One of the advantages of having a truck now is to travel here and enjoy the terrific prices. We are saving 25% of our food budget plus we are getting foods besides beans, potatoes and bananas from the plantation. We put together the gifts of Wes and Shelly Tyler along with the Klinefelter family and collected an ENTIRE TRUCK FULL of food the children hardly ever get to eat.  Amazing. 

We got everything from sweet potatoes (a bag big enough that I couldn’t even pick up as you see Elsam lifting in the truck), pumpkins, a whole bag of eggplants, onions, sugarcane, tomatoes,  and a box of 250 fish. 

How about that for more protein for the children. I couldn’t hold back on the extra large 50kg bag of ground nuts. As Kiconco says,  “peanuts and potatoes”  that is what we are going to grow someday.  Someday very soon.

We also got all the oranges in this picture as Superdad Emmy picked up the goods that Supermom Sarah bargained the orange lady down.  $10 for all of these that you can see in this picture in front of Pastor Emmy.

Supermom is in her element at this market.  I know you would all be proud of how far she can stretch a Ugandan shilling.

Two things we didn’t see at the market.  Any “muzungus”  or white people. I was the only one.  I got a lot of offers to buy just about everything but my main goal was to stay away from Supermom as not to be a detriment to her negotiations due to my white skin.  In fact can you find Emmy and Supermom in this picture?

The other thing we didn’t find is apples. There are several of you who have contributed to the apple fund for this trip and I want to reassure you we will be getting apples again……….it is a PCM favorite of the children.

So we left the market, traveled down the road with the truck leading the Miracle Van in the pot hole race for home,  PC Mbarara School.  Upon arrival I was overwhelmed with joyous children. 

They were jumping up and down, saying “Praise God.” Thank you.  Have you ever seen a kid jump for vegetables?  These kids do and for good reason. They are so thankful God is providing for their needs. They understand I think better than we do that our Lord is our Jehovah Jireh.   Here is Balam, one of our unsponsored boys,  holding up a fish.

Of course besides all those oranges and huge pumpkins, we had to get something sweet and we did.  Check out Innocent holding the raw sugar cane that everyone will be gnawing on. 

Look at the love these girls have for their “Supermom.”  She is an amazing mom to 250.  Her crown in heaven will be so full of jewels she is going to have trouble wearing it.  ;o)

I went back to the hotel to pick up Deuce and we arrived back at school in time for the debate. 

Has the political party in charge done more harm or good?  The smaller children were debating boarding schools vs regular schools.

It really is impressive to watch not only the public speaking ………………………..but the ability to make an argument……..that makes sense too. 

We continued with our interviews and picture taking later in the afternoon but that could only last so long.  It was game time again.

Today we would bring Twister, as well as some big frisbees and nerf basketball.  Alon scaled the new wall of the P6/7 building with a rock and a nail and put the goal in the wall.  Then the kids lined up 1 by 1 to take one shot.  Amazing willingness to wait for just one chance to throw a ball.

Next up would be worship time!!  All we said is let’s do it.  Before you knew it Matthew, Jude and Lydia had the drums ready.  The praise team was positioned in front and the rest of the kids gathered.  One by one they sang nearly every praise song they knew. It was flat out awesome. There is no way I can describe what this experience is like.  True worship with true orphan children.

The Deuce says…..”I was in awe of the fact that in one word they all broke out in to spontaneous worship.  Some were on their knees, some were by themselves, but all were praising their living God. None wanted to stop.” Boy’s patron, a true orphan himself, closed with a prayer and thanked the Lord for this chance to praise HIM.

As soon as we finished here came Driver Emmy in the Miracle Van.  What he would have inside would be a first to so many of the children.  We decided to use the money from the precious gift of Roger and Cindy Rice from my church for this blessing.  As we walked forward with the huge bags of medium sized containers the children could see it was something special.  ICE CREAM.

Many had never had this before and you could soon tell which 1/3 that was.   They didn’t know how to even open the plastic cup.  Some of course were the younger kids and some were a bit older.  Once we got their cup open, then they still were a bit perplexed on what to do with the tiny plastic spoon Emmy had given them.  The Deuce and I started to feed them and it took about 2 bites for the kids to catch on.  They were loving this treat. Many of the older children were amazed that this was given as a gift.  They knew full well how the 60 cents could have bought a ton of bananas.  Tonight we weren’t buying any bananas.  In fact, there was such a surplus that all the kids who wanted more got to have more…………wow…………the Deuce and I sat on the steps to the boy’s dorm and watched them .  This was our treat.  I hope many of you can experience something like this at our school someday.  Finally with still a few cups left they begged us to eat with them.  We finally obliged the request as everyone had had plenty.  We each took one and ate it in the dark.  What a night this had been.  And it wasn’t over yet.

We moved to the new building for movies and dinner.  You see we had to eat the ice cream before dinner or it would have melted. The kids brought their dinner and we watched the movie I had made after our Christmas trip this year.  The kids loved seeing Bailey and Libby but most of all their Kiconco.  Next up was Mike and Annette Childress’s video of their two beloved doggies,  Sophie and Molly.  They entertained the children and there was much joy and laughter. I am sorry I didn’t get a picture of them,  all you could see that night were about 500 eyes………….Finally the Deuce made a 3 minute video of our trip and showed it to the kids.  They loved that too. It was almost 9:30pm……………it had been another full day of blessings.  On the van ride home Pastor Emmy said,  “it is like Christmas all over again.” 

Thank you Lord for letting both of us experience these wonderful people here in Uganda. We shall never remain the same.

Sula Bulungi

Epa and the Deuce

We awoke this morning refreshed and ready to head to the school after I fell asleep holding the computer with the first letter “d” typed of this blog.  Much work was to be done today.  It was going to be a fun one.

We arrived and the children were in school with all the teachers commanding attention. 

There were of course the occasional glances through the window or door at us but school went on as planned today.

One class at a time we brought forth the children to complete the pictures we needed.

Each of them stood with their nameplate and provided us with a “seka” smile with much ease.   We had a chance to interview several of the children in depth and will be happy to show you some of their comments very soon.

We got to talk to some of the older boys who get a chance to ride the single PCM bike down the road to run errands for Supermom and Elsam our cook.  Here is Alex returning with some tomatoes for Elsam.

We are thankful for this one bike and want to say thanks to Mike and Annette Childress for their purchase of a second bike for these boys.  I told them I was going to try to get them a total of 5 bikes.  Here they are receiving that news with much joy.

Supermom lets out a very big praise of thanks in the Miracle Van after hearing that news.

Next up were some group photos…………..Here is Supermom and Superdad with the children.   There is “much joy” as Emmy would be saying.   Can you find Emmy and Sarah in this photo?

We of course had to join in with the traditional trip “Where’s Waldo photo?” 

Justin interviewed some teachers and children on video while I proceeded into the classrooms. 

One by one I hit them all, stopping at last in Jonathan’s class. The class was about to have a quiz so I told them they should quiz me instead.  I got 5 points for each right answer and less than that if teacher Jonathan thought I was off.

I got to answer a whole variety of questions ranging from “what is an ethnic group?” to “what is a nuclear family?”  They asked me about the layers of the earth and I told them you don’t always have to know all the answers………and that I have some very good friends who know all about dirt (Les Jeske) and he helps me when I need to know something. 

I got a “0” on that one and all the kids erupted in laughter as I showed my disappointment with my first 0.  Then they asked me ………..”what are germs?”.  I told them “germs are very very good.  They pay for food for me and food for you. “ I went on to explain that my job is to kill germs.  I got 5 points for that one.  It was a great time. 

As a doctor you spend much of your time teaching,………teaching is fun………teaching these kids is SO FUN.

Mr. Cha they are asking for your return. It’s time to plan a teaching trip for 2011.

Next up was time for lunch as we all took a break.

The weather has been good this week but a bit hot. Everything is so green.  This is trip #5 and 4/5 trips have been green and one was a “brown out” with the land so dusty from no rain.  Not the case this time. We got some extra time at lunch to speak with teacher Fausta who had been gone last time with her new baby. Now 9 months old.  Precious.

Also at lunch I was able to show Pastor Januanario and Pastor Charles some of the pictures of the church that a few of our November team has built in Kenya.  They studied the diagrams and we talked and toured the land site where we hope to erect this building in November. Very exciting.

Next up it was game time.  Pastor Charles ran to the front and took on Edison, who I believe is our best football player.  He has some real gift and talent on the pitch. So it was the master builder Charles vs Mr Coordinated Edison.  They got up to level 32 in Jenga.  A record for the week.  Edison was the WEEENER as they say. 

I brought Connect Four for the smaller children.  Here is one of our sponsored kids Mark going vertical with his strategy.

It was quite fun watching the smaller children play this game.  It took them a long time to figure out that they needed to block their opponent from getting four in a row, so many of the games consisted of both players just stacking their first four and whoever went first won!  Maybe there was a communication breakdown somewhere in there.  At any rate, it allowed many kids to play!

Finally it was time for a new game.  CHESS.  None of them had ever played it.  I found a big one to place on the floor as the checkers has always been a hit.  Pastor Charles volunteered to play me and learn.

There is something so special about this man. He loves to learn about the Lord, but he also loves to learn new things.  As I took him on it was so fun to watch him think through each move. The kids learned so much from game #1 that they were ready to play themselves. Deuce jumped in and helped with some of the kids. 

Jude was the first one to play of course.  He is one of our champion checker players.

Finally before leaving we had one more treat.  A bubble blowing contest.  Each grade had a volunteer blower.  Everyone got three pieces and we went at it.  It wasn’t as easy as I thought for them since they never get to chew gum.  Well, this was the first of many of these contests I hope.  Much fun…………….

We piled back in the Miracle Van and headed home. It had been another full day.  A great one as usual. I don’t think it is possible to come away from this school compound without an overwhelming sense of pure joy.

Thank you Lord for letting us experience this once again.

Love and thanks to our supporters

Epa and the Deuce