I know everyone is wondering about Sunday night’s open house and share time.  Well, it was incredible!  Thank you so much to all of you that were able to come and help us celebrate what God is doing through Parental Care Ministries.  We had over 100 people come throughout the evening, and it was overwhelming to see how much this ministry has changed over these past two years.  For those of you who are really into numbers, here is some exciting news!

We now how 180 children sponsored with only about 70 more kids to sponsor to finish our Mbarara site! These children will be so excited to know that they have all been chosen someday very soon.

At this point we have 18 cows sponsored for pastors! The 15 pastors receiving their cows will go through a 5 day training at our PCM Uganda office on May 29th before receiving their cows later in June we hope.  These pastors feel so blessed to now have a way to earn their own income.  In fact, here is one pastor’s remarks concerning his cow:

We also have some VERY EXCITING NEWS about the future of Parental Care Ministries.

Here are Pastor Emmy and Reuben in our favorite new area.

Can you believe that?  Yes our long range goal is to eventually have a large piece of land to farm and raise cattle on in order to provide the operational funds for the school as well as to eventually move the school to this property.  Well this goal is becoming a reality!!!!  MUCH SOONER THAN WE COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED.

We have found an amazing 65 acre piece of land that is the perfect fit for our ministry.  On top of that, we have an anonymous donor who has helped us SECURE THIS LAND  AND is willing to match every dollar donated  up to $65,000 to pay it off in full.   “WAHOOO” is what Pastor Emmy is saying.  “Acres for Orphans” is now officially a new project. Many of us have dreamed of one day owning our own land.  Well, for $1,000 you can own an entire Ugandan acre! You can even purchase a smaller plot if you like less upkeep and fewer bananas on your property (a half acre is $500 and a 1/4 acre is just $250). No gift is too small with this new project.   Everything will be matched by our donor.  We will even let you walk this precious land of milk and bananas and you will soon see why we have chosen this place as the site for our future work in Uganda. The view from this land is literally amazing.  It is in a very rich agricultural hotspot with banana plantations in every direction as far as you can see.    The front of the land is flat where we will be able to have a real playground and soccer field.  Tons of space to run and be a PCM kid.

On the hill we will construct our main campus and even have room for the firstborn of all the firstborn calves of the pastor’s cows. At the top of the hill there is a banana plantation. In the back of the land is many many acres for our PCM farm.This place truly has EVERYTHING WE COULD EVER NEED to start a farm and eventually build a school on.

We presented this vision on Sunday at the open house and already have 9 acres spoken for. Mukama Asiimwe!!  Please pray that God will bring  other sponsors who would be willing to invest in our future at Parental Care Ministries.

“Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” 1 Pet 1:8

Thank you so much for what you are doing to invest in the lives of these people in Uganda.  All the pastors, teachers, and children are filled with so much gratitude for what we are doing.  I think it is a reminder to us how blessed we are, but we are blessed for a reason.  We can choose to use our blessings just to make our own lives a little more comfortable or we can forever change the life of someone else or many others!  Thank you for your eternal investment.  Here is a video showing a little bit of what we experienced on trip 5 as well as some others along with a big thank you from Pastor Emmy:

Blessings to all of you,

Deuce

PCM is proud to announce that we have hired two employees at PCM: Justin and Christie Hayes (also pictured are PCM supporters Marley, London and Carter).  Let me explain how this came about.  Many of you have come to know our volunteer extraordinaire Christie Hayes who has been sending the blogs since last year.  Well, we got board approval to finally start to pay her in 2010 for all the time she is spending staying in touch with you and organizing the orphan sponsorship program.  What we didn’t know is that the Lord was going before us and he had so much more ready for us that we couldn’t imagine it.  We have seen the friendship grow between the Barrets and Hayes this year and have spent much time praying for their family and the direction they were taking.  We thought at first that Justin would have a part time job at a church and spend the rest with PCM. The PCM Board was sensitive and knew that we needed to be a good steward in spending our first administrative dollar. We also realize that we are at the launching point and without staff, it is going to be hard to grow. However, we knew that we couldn’t afford even a single full time employee (as talented as Justin) as we have yet to meet all of our operational expenses in Uganda at our Mbarara site. What we would soon learn is that God sometimes has bigger plans than you can ever imagine.  I write this blog today in full amazement of what the Lord is doing with this ministry.  We now have 2 employees and PCM is still only paying for one 1/2 time employee with what the board approved. Wow…….it’s a great story……ask us about it sometime.

I am here ready to announce the positions of our 2 employees:

Justin Hayes will be PCM Director of Ministry Operations. He will direct all of our operations here in the US via working with churches, schools and individuals, but he will also travel back and forth to Uganda taking teams of pastors, parents, and students to experience PCM Uganda. He will report to the PCM CEO yours truly.  We are calling him “the Deuce” for obvious reasons. Monica and I can’t tell you how blessed and excited we are to work alongside someone so talented as Justin.  You will all soon begin to see what we mean.  Just don’t ask him to play any musical instruments with his nose.  Justin and I leave for Uganda in less than one month.  More on this trip coming very soon.  (PCM quiz: Can you tell the difference on Justin’s 2 photos?…..if you can tell him about it)

Christie Hayes will wear multiple hats as well…….She will be the PCM Child Sponsorship Coordinator and the Director of Accounting as well.  You already know her talents and her nickname as “DC” …….”Double Check.”  The Lord knew that Monica and I needed someone who loves to make lists, check them twice, be excellent at communication in person and email, and have a huge heart for Jesus at the same time.  Bullseye.  Right now we know these days for her are busy with 3 kids under age 5 running around the house, but we know it won’t be long before DC is in the Miracle Van herself traveling those dirt roads of Uganda we have come to love so well.

I wanted to share a bit of the email they sent today to all of their friends and family that they have come to love this past decade at Green Acres.

Here are their words today March 7th, 2010  (2 years exactly from the day the Barrets got on the plane headed for Uganda).

Several months ago, even though we were still enjoying Justin’s role as High School Minister at Green Acres, we started feeling God calling us away from student ministry.  It wasn’t all at once, we just slowly felt our hearts changing.  We still loved students (and always will), we just felt the Spirit stirring things up.  I can’t explain what an exciting time it has been for us to know He was moving and leading and guiding and that we were just along for the ride!

We continued to seek God as we were feeling this way, and we allowed Him to guide us through each step.  Since January, through none of our own strength, He has opened doors–and opened them WIDE–for us to take this step to work together for PCM.

He has also solidified our family’s friendship with the Barret family, making this ministry partnership feel like it is exactly what He had planned all along.  The PCM Board of Directors met in London over the New Year holiday and began planning out the next 5 years.  One of the top 5 needs identified at the meeting was help for the Barret family.  A position was approved and less than 2 months later it is filled.  Justin will finish his student ministry job in early April and he and Bub will leave for Uganda soon after that for a two week trip.  Justin and I will both be traveling to Uganda as often as we can.  We can’t wait to bring our family with us one day too!

Many of you know how much Justin and I both love international missions.  I asked him when we were dating how he felt about missions…because if he wasn’t willing to do missions, I wasn’t going to marry him.  God had made it very clear to me that this kind of ministry would be a part of my life, and I knew he wouldn’t have me marry someone who didn’t feel the same way!  Over the years, we have been involved in missions in different ways.  Now God is calling us to this full time missions ministry, and we are THRILLED!  It is a bittersweet time as we leave the student ministry, which feels like home, but we are so glad to be staying at Green Acres and to have their support in our new ministry as well.   The Parental Care Ministries office will be located at the GABC Outreach Center on Beckham in Tyler  just north of the hospitals (0.8 miles from Bub’s doctor office) where Good Sam is located.  Justin will work there most of the time, and I will too when I need to get work done without three little munchkins at my heels.

We would love for you to check out what our new ministry is all about.  The website is www.pcmonline.org.  We would also love to talk to you about it anytime! We are excited, can’t you tell?

We would love for you to join us in praising God for this amazing thing He has done in our lives!  We pray that each of you would also seek His direction in your life and allow Him to bless you in ways you couldn’t even imagine, too!  Even though I’ve had many sleepless nights lately–some because of a precious baby girl, some from worrying a little, but mainly from pure excitement!– I wouldn’t trade a single minute of this abundant life He has given us.

As we come to the end of one chapter and begin the next one, we are finding that the summary of our whole experience can be found in Psalm 126:3:

The LORD has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy.

Love,

Justin, Christie, Carter, London, and Marley

Amen. Amen. Amen as Pastor Emmy says.

God has been so good to PCM these past 22 months.

We are so thankful for your continued prayers and support.

We have so much more good news to share and will be doing so very soon.

It is with much joy that we praise God today,

Bub and Monica

Hello PCM Bloggers,

We have a very big prayer request.  Pastor Emmy and Sarah are leaving Mbarara on Monday 2/8/10 for Kamapala to visit the US Embassy on the morning of February 9th. This  will be the middle of the night Monday night our time.  Please pray that the US consular officer who gets to talk to them carefully evaluates the work that he and Supermom have done over the past 18 months. We have many things to show the officers.  We just want them to look at them before they make an immediate decision.  So much has changed as you know. So many of you have joined us in support of Parental Care Ministries USA.  We really need your prayers Monday night. I will be updating the status on FACEBOOK while he is at the Embassy.  You can sign up to be a friend of the ministry on Facebook on our main page on the bottom left corner.  We would love for each of our sponsors and supporters to meet Emmy and Sarah this spring.  What a blessing that would be!!!!

Here is a letter we obtained from one of the cabinet officials in Uganda.  Take a look.

What else has been going on?  

Well Monica made a visit to Dance and Drill studio to say Hi and thanks to Mrs. Lynn and Mrs Jeanie for their huge support with the PCM Dump Truck campaign. Way to go DND !!

At Grace Community School,  PCM Board members Karla Foreman and Myles Cunningham have been hard at work with our project for the P6 classroom:  Hearts For Change.  Students of the elementary campus have collected change over the past few weeks and deposited them in the big red buckets in the cafeteria.  It has been a joy to see the kids make such a huge difference in the lives of our Ugandan P6 students by just gathering the change we all tend to disregard in our homes and cars. This project runs through February 14th. You don’t have to be a Grace student to give your change.  You can stop by Grace Elementary anytime during the day to give to this project.

Here is PCM Board member Myles Cunningham talking at chapel on his experience in Uganda this summer. He told the students basically, you “can’t judge a book by it’s cover.”  He was amazed ( a jaw dropping phenomenon by his accounts) of what he saw at this humble school.  1 Sam 16:7  The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

Monica made another trip to Grace this February to teach art with Mrs Thomas.  She taught the chidren some of the 800+ verses on the heart and then helped each child make a heart based on one of these verses.  Unbelievable beautiful creations were the result from these 5th grade Grace students.

Pastor Emmy and Sarah have been busy on their return from the United Kingdom 1/19/10.  They have had a youth conference at our school for hundreds of high school and young adults. Here was the theme of the conference:

Not to mention they made time for the Ezra School of Ministry by gathering nearly many of our 43 pastors together for a conference and teaching time.  When does Emmy ever sleep?  Amazing!!

School is back in sesssion in Mbarara and the children “are with much Joy” as Emmy says thanks to your prayers and support.  Just look at these genuine smiles.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for what you are doing.

We would love to announce that Emmy and Sarah have a visa on Tuesday,  but we also know Ecc 3:1 “there is a time and season for everything.”  Our work will continue whether they get to come this spring 2010 or some time thereafter.

Updates will be on Facebook  as i get them and the blog when we have a final answer.

Love greetings this valentine season from Emmy and Supermom…….

Bub and Monica

PS  Check out the Pictures Button for the 153 pictures that Christie loaded from Trip #4.  Way to go “DC.”  What we we do without you??????

Grace Community School has embarked on a campaign, called Hearts for Change in early 2010.  By collecting small change until Valentines Day, they are trying to raise $5000 for a new school building at Parental Care School in Mbarara Uganda. Anyone is welcome to donate change for this project.

Here are two videos:

The first explains the Hearts for Change project  and what PCM is doing in Uganda……Click here

The second is a short video of what happened at GCS Elementary Chapel on 1/12/10 with a song from the GCS Elementary children to the orphans in Uganda…….Click here

“…My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.” Hosea 11:8

Join us in prayer for Pastor Emmy and Supermom’s trip to the US Embassy for a visa on 2/4/10 in Kampala. It will be middle of the night on 2/3/10 for us in the states.  (see prayer button for more details)

A Texas sized thank you goes from PCM to a special lady in East Texas!

Lynn Ramey is a godly woman who daily serves the Lord through her dance studio, Dance N Drill in Tyler.  When I think of Lynn, I always think of her growing up in Humble, Tx. (pronounced “umble”) which is just up the road from where I grew up in North Houston.

Lynn’s place of origin fits her heart  desire- to humbly serve her King all her days.  Our own two girls had the pleasure of attending her dance studio for years and many other children and young ladies have had the honor of learning dance in all it’s splendid forms from her and her great teachers throughout the years.

She serves the community of East Texas in many capacities: As a mother of two, a business owner, coordinator for the Tyler Rose Festival, Tyler Golden Girls and Grace Community School’s drill team the Cougarettes.

Well, this fall the Lord put it on Ashley Ferguson’s heart to approach Lynn to see if she would consider praying about  supporting PCM through her dance studio.  Ashley’s timing was perfect as she ended up asking Lynn just a couple of days before Lynn would spend time in prayer deciding on just the right mission project for her students to be involved in. She quickly felt a nudge to support PCM and with hugs said “I can’t wait to help out!”

Here are some of Lynn’s own words to explain what her desire has been for her studio’s involvement in reaching out to others: “ Our Christmas project began around 12 years ago when I began to think of ways D-N-D could help teach the real meaning of Christmas “in action” by doing for others.  I also challenged the students to think of “these people” that they helped first on Christmas morning instead of themselves and what they would be receiving that day.  The focus was to be on what they would be giving as a birthday present for Jesus, one that would make him smile!  This is a list of what we have been involved in since:

St. Marcus Compassion House

Miss Choy and the orphanage in China

The Moses Project

Full Circle Ministry

Missionaries from Grace Church

The Samaritan’s Purse

Mercy Ships

Various other ministries

The parents and students really love to help!  Dancers go home and spread the word at the dinner table at night and with their friends at school.  We even sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus as we circle the jar of money we have collected before we turn it in.  Certainly a wonderful memory and gift to all.”

Lynn happily accepted the offer to have “show and tell for Jesus” and what He is doing through PCM.   They decided to help Pastor Emmy have a very Merry Christmas and raise money to help fund the work truck that would supply fresh foods to the orphan children and PCM school, carry construction supplies to help build the school and dorms and also to evangelize areas that are remote and have no access to the Good News of God’s love for them.

From right after Thanksgiving up until Christmas the teachers gave the opportunity for the students to hear about this unique work in Uganda and to give spare change towards the work truck.  We had a fun time with an old Golden Crown Book called “The Happy Man and His Dump Truck!” A Parallel story to Pastor Emmy’s desire to have a fun time helping his friends!

Mrs. Jeannie Hines read the book to the younger classes as they attentively listened and then she passed around a jar to allow them to add their sweet little coins.  Their sparkling eyes said it all really - children know how to give wholeheartedly to Jesus!

Mrs. Lynn was so excited to give of her time to tell PCM’s story and this precious little studio ended up raising over $3,500! The most they have ever raised for a ministry. Wow!!!  As Ashley says, “How Awesome is that!”

How awesome is our God indeed!!!

Our friend Justin Hayes sent over a scripture to encourage us recently and I think it really sums up what the LORD was working in all of this….

Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

Hebrews 10:24

That’s the bottom line and that is what God wonderfully worked out in all who were a part of this story.

LOTS OF LOVE AND LOTS OF GOOD DEEDS!

Blessings to Mrs. Lynn, Mrs. Jeannie and all of Dance N Drill’s students for considering  Jesus’ call to care for His Ugandan friends!

Wanted to share some terrific news about what is happening with our ministry these past few weeks. It’s time for a PCM GOOD NEWS blog:

Hello PCM Supporters.   We are excited about our 2009 Christmas project……..a little dump truck and some evangelism equipment to go with it.  That’s right!  We are looking for a truck similar to this one to serve multipurpose functions in our ministry. Our fundraising goal is $25000 for this project. There will be primarily three main objectives of such a vehicle:

1. We need a truck to carry evangelism equipment to the rural villages where our 43 PCM pastors can share God’s Word like they never have had a chance before to do so.  We are having a crusade 12/21-12/24 near Emmy’s first church site and we need a truck to carry the generator, speakers, microphones and worship equipment which is all still needed.  This will hopefully be the first of many evangelism outreach opportunities. We will also have a projector and copies of the “Jesus film” to share with thousands of Ugandans.  We are thankful for our “Miracle Van” and it’s many uses, but to reach the masses…..we need a happy little truck like the one above.

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2. This truck will allow us to travel directly to the village farmers and purchase food at a 30% cost savings. Currently our food bill to feed 270 people each day is our single biggest expense.   At 10 cents a meal, we are doing the best we can with the current options available in Mbarara.  This truck would allow us to not only buy fresh fruits and vegetables, but to give our orphan children more variety in their diet.  It would allow variation from beans, potatoes, and bananas at every meal. That will make for even healthier and happier children.

3. Finally the third purpose will be to assist in the construction process at our school and other future sites. In Uganda,  it seems they use the motor bike to carry everything from bed frames to bananas to people.  To make our building process more efficient and cheaper, we need a truck like the one below to help us finish out our current school site and be able to move on to other projects.

We hope you will rejoice in the “truckload of love” the Father has given you through His Son Jesus this Christmas!!!

We are now on Facebook……..Click here to become a fan

Here is a recent picture of the orphans with their new PE uniform donated by one of our supporters this month. We are so thankful!!!

Join Team Uganda #3 for ice cream sundaes at 7pm at the Barret house this Sunday July 19th. We will fellowship and give a short description of what is planned and then pray for the trip starting at 8pm.   Anyone interested in the ministry or this trip is welcome to come.  We will be missing just one team member (our photographer who is in Europe presently and will rendezvous with the six of us in London next week .)  We will have many of the PCM board members and their families as well as some of our orphan sponsor families and other supporters.  Kids are welcome to join the fun and prayer.  All we need is a confirmation that you are coming to have enough ice cream for everyone to enjoy.  So just please email me if you are coming and we will give you directions if you need them. We should be done by around 9pm.  Feel free to come and go as needed.

Here is a recent photo of the orphans at Parental Care School Rwemikoma (about 2 hours away), hopefully someday where we expand our the school next with support.  Pastor Emmy visited the school headed by Pastor Hilliary and brought some encouragement.  He brought each child one piece of bread and each of the unpaid teachers $20.  You can tell they hardly ever get bread as a part of their diet. Such a treat and many many smiles.

So Orphans and ice cream.  How could you resist either one of these treats!!!!

We hope you can join us this Sunday………for a sundae

and some prayer for these things……

Who is going on trip #3?

1. Mark Barret (Bub) - pediatrician and leader for this trip
2. Monica Barret- mother of two daughters, artist
3. Jay Ferguson- Headmaster Grace Community School Tyler Tx
4. Ashley Ferguson- mother of three daughters, Director Marburger Farms
5. Doug Clark - head Pastor Grace Community Church Tyler Tx
6. Myles Cunningham- beloved 6th grade History teacher at Grace Community School Tyler Tx
7. Krisitin Laughlin- professional photographer Austin Tx

What are we going to be doing?

• We leave  Wednesday July 22
• We will hold a mass wedding for 13 couples at a local soccer stadium- opportunity for evangelism
• We will attend Pastor Emmy’s home church for a Sunday service
• Jay and Doug  will lead a 2 day pastor’s conference for 43 of Emmy’s pastors
• Mr C will teach the orphans and meet with the teachers
• Monica, Ashley and I will be in charge of orphan encouragement,  we now have nearly 220 of them to love on
• We will visit and get to preach at several of Pastor Emmy’s rural churches
• Kristin will capture all the action on film.  
• We return to DFW August 1st

A wedding?

Why would we be holding a wedding in Uganda?  Especially one for 13 couples? Well it is a very big blessing to have a wedding in Uganda. Most couples can not afford the dowry that is usually paid to the brides family.  So many couples don’t officially get married. Not to mention the costs of the wedding.  Big weddings just don’t happen and a group wedding has never happened in Mbarara.   

Here is a part of a recent email to me from Pastor Emmy that helps explain. 

Most of these couples would never have this chance to marry so they are incredibly excited.  Let me show you a few of the 12 Ugandan couples

This is Driver Emmy and Mary.  She is fully recovered from the malaria she experienced on our last trip.

Pastor John and Jane. 

Monica and I have decided after 19 years of marriage to renew our vows with these 12 couples. We want to affirm our faith to each other as we stand before God and our Ugandan family .  Pastor Emmy will be my best man, Sarah will be Monica’s matron of honor.

This is a picture of Monica , Emmy’s mom Shirley , Supermom Sarah and Emmy

What can you do to be a part of this trip?

Many people have asked us what can they do to join us on this trip.  We need lots of prayer support as always.  In addition I have listed some suggestions below for those of you wanting to bless these people.

$25   Teacher and staff  special snack for the lounge.  These teachers survive on $3-4 a day. Their income is always reserved for the most essentials to sustain life.  They are so grateful for a dependable job.  Their lounge is the most humble building I have ever conducted a meeting inside of.  But oh God is so present there.

$50  rice bag.  We can buy a 50 kilogram bag of rice for the orphans.  Over there as an orphan the diet is pourrige in the morning, and potates/bananas/beans for lunch and dinner if possible.   Can you imagine,  rice as a treat.  Usually two 50 kilogram bags will feed all the orphans.

$75  Hygiene items.  It will buy a ton of soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste, and petroleum jelly for many of the orphans.  They use petroleum jelly instead of lotion after baths because it is too expensive. The well is making a huge difference in hygiene for these children.

$100 will buy a special snack for every orphan.  What moved me the most in March of 2008 was watching each orphan graciously hold out his or her hand, take the snack and juice and savor each bite and sip.  Most had never seen a juice cup and many had no idea how to open it.  There was no fighting or asking for seconds, only gratefulness for what was provided.

$250 will support a rural Ugandan pastor for several months.    

Pastor Reuber and his beautiful wife Hallen

These pastors willingly serve the LORD with little or no pay. Running with the love of Jesus with great faith that God will provide for them and their families.  We have been so blessed to get to know so many of them.  One of our favorite things in the world to do is to sit in their homes and being offered a coca cola in their living rooms as a gift of their hospitality to us when this is a huge sacrifice.  They are truly so gifted at giving.  It’s a joy to give back to these wonderful servants of the LORD.   

$500 will give a much needed upgrade to the orphan’s kitchen.

We have the kitchen on site and it is a very busy room when cooking for 220 all day.  Chief cook Elsam and his staff do an amazing job providing nutritional meals for these children. Each meal takes hours to prepare and he sleeps only a few hours here and there.  These funds would help with pots, pans, cooking utensils and other vital equipment. 

$1000 would pay for the choir at Mbarara Parental Care School to record a CD and make copies that could be used to raise support here in America.

The children singing is one of the most remarkable memories we hold after visiting the school The joyful praises these children sing to God with all their hearts is a beautiful experience and is very healing to anyone who has the blessing of hearing.            

Remember all donations to Parental Care Ministries are 100% tax deductible. We officially received our non-profit status from the I.R.S. in April - Praise the LORD and thanks to Kent Kalb and Chuck Bauman for being our legal/accounting team.     

If you are supporting an orphan…. 

We will be accepting care packages to bring to them.   We would like to keep them relatively small ( 8.5 X 11 envelope) .   Suggestions would be a small note, family picture,  stickers, small candy, colors, pencil, pens, coloring book, small game book/journal etc.   We are trying to limit the toys to the bigger ones the children can all share.  Please contact Monica or I or you can mail them to our ministry address:  PCM ,  3610 River Oaks, Tyler Tx 75707

Another round of letters has been mailed several weeks ago from Pastor Emmy but they are somewhere between Uganda and the US. It is easy to write to them at:    Parental Care Ministries,    c/o your orphan name,  PO BOX 1690,  Mbarara UGANDA,  East Africa

We hope to take pictures with our professional photographer and some video for each family to see the love and joy you are providing these children. 

We are so grateful for your continuing prayer and support of God’s children in Uganda.

Hello PCM Bloggers,

Check out the article by Patrick Butler in the  Tyler Morning Telegraph. Click   here

It is a story of how this card below started it all………..

We have included some more text, pictures  and video below for our new readers who need to see what we have been up to in this ministry.  Thanks for reading.

We have been called to spread the Father’s love to children across the world.  Our first area of focus is Uganda.  My wife Monica and I heard this song “You’re not an Orphan” back in 2005 at a conference in Colorado Springs on the campus of Focus on the Family.  We fell in love with it and could not understand then……. why the Father was developing a love for orphans inside of us. Now we know why. Click here for a slide show of just a few of the children we have met along the way with part of a song by Laura Fitzgerald.

Right now most of our work is with the Parental Care School in a tiny town of Mbarara Uganda.  It is in southwestern Uganda near Rwanda.  Some people questioned even last year if we really even had a school. There were no classrooms, one dorm and the teachers were not getting paid. Take a look at the progress being made in the school by clicking here

Pastor Emmy sold his car and his house last year to pay for food for these orphans.  He had faith to believe that we could become spokespeople for the ministry in the United States before we had the faith to believe it ourselves.  He told us in March of 2008 that the Lord would provide the necessary people to stand alongside of us.  In May of 2008 this faith of believing what cannot be seen became reality with the formation of Parental Care Ministries USA.   To read more about who makes up our Board of Directors and what we are trying to do as a nonprofit ministry click here

Some of you may be wondering why in the world do they have a banana plant as their logo.  Click here to read our earlier post about our logo……a banana tree.

We are to PROVIDE for God’s children both spiritually and physically. Currently the orphans have pourridge in the morning and are provided lunch and dinner with beans, potatoes and bananas.  Nearly 1/2 of our operational budget goes to feeding the 200 orphans, and 22 staff.  Click here to view this video on food starring my good friend Esther.

We also were moved on our last trip (November 2008)  by the drinking WATER situation. The orphans had to use this dirty river water as a water source.   One week after our team departed, Pastor Emmy’s nephew Robert fell in the river drawing water for the orphans.  He drowned to death.  Our ministry immediately realized the need for a well, and we knew we needed to ask the Lord quickly to provide funds for a well. This water situation was now a liability.  Over Christmas a campaign was conducted to raise funds for something very special for the orphans. Click here to watch this video to see what happened thanks to the generosity of so many…….

So who is this Pastor Emmy?  Click here to read his story.

We have been called by the Lord to come along PASTOR EMMY, his orphans, and the 34 pastors he currently oversees in rural Uganda. He started with nothing in his pockets, a wife Sarah who lacked parental care herself growing up, and a small piece of land and a few believers. He had only a 7th grade education and he lived in a mud hut with Sarah for about 5 years.  His faith was big then and it has grown even more over the past 14 years.   In June of 2008 the Lord provided a new van, named the “Miracle Van.”    Currently Emmy uses the van to oversee 34 pastors and their churches.  Click here to see  a few of his churches and the main church he helped start in 1994 now led by his assistant,  Pastor Reuben.

We are also very excited to report that Emmy is taking his FIRST VACATION EVER TODAY (5/16/09-5/19/09) on the shores of Lake Victoria with his wife, “Supermom” Sarah thanks to a gift from a generous donor.   He will have 3 days to spend with Sarah and much of it will be time on their knees.

We currently have a ORPHAN SPONSORSHIP campaign taking place. Click here to check out this link to scroll through these orphan children.   Currently we have only 1/3 of them sponsored at $35 a month or $420 a year.  We are providing food, water, clothing, security and education for all the orphan children. Click  here to link to HOW TO GIVE to our approved 501(c)3 nonprofit  ministry.   All of the funds raised go directly to orphan care.  Nothing is taking out for administrative purposes.

Currently all of the orphans have a bed, but the triple decker bunks are so crowded that we need an additional girls dorm according to the Ugandan fire safety officer. The orphans are in desperate need of one more uniform  since the one provided one year ago is getting pretty old having to be worn so frequently. We would like to finish out the classrooms and begin providing more health care for them since many of the orphans’ parents have died of HIV.  We now have a well but have no electricity at the school.  Each of the dorm rooms is lit at night by just one latern for about 50 kids…….Our prayer is that someday we would have a school made of real buildings, running water and electricity.   Until we see that day we will continue to praise the Lord for the gifts he has provided so far for these precious orphans.

We are currently speaking with various groups, schools and churches. If you would like us to come visit and share with your group what the Lord is doing on the other side of the world in Uganda, you can email us at parentalcareministries@gmail.com  or leave a comment on the blog on our website.  We would love to hear from you.  You can also request for us to add you to our blog list for automatic updates each time we make a post.

If you want to see more….. click on the prayer/project button or the media button for more pictures.

Blessings,

Mark and Monica Barret