We packed our bags this morning, loaded them on the Miracle Van and headed straight for the school. First though we had to stop at the fruit guy to load another bounty of pineapple.

$20 buys about 40 pineapples. Amazing. We reached the school and soon noticed subdued excitement on the children. They knew time was short. We didn’t waste it either. We presented the final blessing, took some more pictures and had them sing us a few praise songs. “My God is Able” is one of our favorites all time ones for sure. I wish I could describe in words how these kids can worship the Lord.

Soon we turned around and one by one these children were walking up to us and bury their precious heads in our bellies. “Thank you” “God bless you“ were the common statements heard. Some didn’t say anything……they I am sure felt like we did. There was not much to say……we were all saddened and didn’t want to face this day but it had once again come too quickly.

I told them we were working hard to find ALL of them sponsors where we would be able to provide more food, more variety on their diet and even MORE FRUITS. A thunderous cheer erupted on that one.

We loaded the van and looked back……..it had been a terrific Christmas week, unlike any other our family had ever experienced.

Soon the van stopped at Driver Emmy’s home and we picked up his lovely bride of 4 years Mary. She was excited to be going to Kampala with us. She had never spent a day away from her 2 children much less ever stayed at a hotel. Welcome aboard Mary.

We then traveled a bit further down the road and made a stop for our friend Pastor Simon. You see transportation is a huge issue for every Ugandan, especially if you are a pastor and live in the village. We made a stop to see Pastor Simon’s motorbike and help him a bit with the balance. He had paid off nearly all of it, but he was forced to miss the last day of the crusade because he was traveling to convince the owner to give him a bit more time to pay off the final third. The Lord provided a way to help Pastor Simon with this last $150 he had needed. It was a true joy to present him with this gift.

We loaded him with cookies and some water and were soon on our way. Pastor Simon always reminds me of “Mowgli” the black panther from the jungle book. He also has one of the best smiles of all the 43 pastors. We were soon on our way and then noticed in my rear view mirror on the side of the Miracle Van. Pastor Simon had taken all of the cookies he had just gotten and was giving all of them away to the children around him. Oh Lord help me to be this generous. When I have been given a blessing, help me to share it with others……right away with such joy as this. One particular PCM supporter did just this before our trip and we are forever grateful. They made a promise to make a donation before God had even provided. And then he provided the exact amount this family was wanting to give to them in a Christmas bonus. They gave the entire $200 to PCM. We are so grateful to them and all the many others who are helping us with this work in rural Uganda.

And then we picked up our last two Miracle Van riders……….Reuben, Emmy’s #2 and his wife Hallen. This is a most incredible story and I will send part 2 of this blog later today.

Mukama Asiimwe “Praise God”

Barret Family

We awoke ready for church.  Emmy stayed home again to rest and take his medicine. It was the right decision.  As we arrived of course…….the church was in full swing of worship as usual. We passed out the streamers the Jeske family had made and voila………a beautiful display of worship with all the children smiling.

I had to join in the action and sit among the children.  They were packed like sardines and I experienced some unusual odors, but I was right next to Abais, 2 over from Esther and right in front of Milly and her contagious smile.

They were fascinated with the pictures and video and loved to see themselves digitally.  Edward and Beatrice’s daughter claimed the middle aisle with her red hat and stole the attention every once and a while.

We thought it was appropriate to present Bonny with the umbrella hat.  It so matches his lovely personality…………

We made our way back to the hotel and made a quick change, and grabbed some food.  Emmy’s daughter Julie was with us for lunch.  She sang “Open the eyes of my heart Lord” for the table as she devoured the chips (fries) by the handful.  She has really matured in the last 6 months.  She is always a treat to hang out with us at our hotel when we get dropped off.

Next stop was the fruit guy.  In ever our quest to meet the need of fruit for the children,  we pulled up the Miracle Van to the melon stand.   It would be his “big day” as Supermom said.   We bought about 20 watermelons as Driver Emmy demanded that he taste them to ensure freshness.

Soon they were all in the bottom of the Miracle Van rolling all around as we took the not so smooth path to school.  It didn’t matter……we had arrived at school.

The girls went right to work with making snowflakes.

The children all sat quietly and then began to fold their paper after being taught.  Each then took scissors with precision and began to create little masterpieces.

Finally the glue was applied and they were brought to the glitter box where they loved putting silver and blue glitter all over these snowflakes.

As you could tell ……….this was a big hit.  But then as some began to finish, another blessing was shared with them.  You see Mrs Annette had made each orphan child a special Happy Birthday Jesus coloring book.

They moved to the back of the classroom and soon you could hear a pin drop.  They divided the crayons and followed the lead of some of the older girls.   They just love coloring………It is such a joy just to watch them do it.  THANK YOU MIKE AND ANNETTE.

Then we made it outside for some pictures as I told the children to go to their dorms and get their Christmas present.  They of course all ran and were back in no time to show the camera.

Wow,  $5 ………such joy………what a great Christmas present this was for all of them.

It was time for a special snack of watermelon. Many of the girls showed us their talent of balancing these delicious treats on their head like many of the Ugandan women in the village.  Nobody dropped one either.

Then it was time to eat this treat.  Oh my goodness,  what a treat it was to watch and listen to the many “mmmms” as they ate this melon.  No portion was spared either……..it was all the way to the rind.

The night was getting darker……..we played some games with balloons and then I took several of the older orphans to interview in the single light bulbed classroom.  You shall have to hear what they said too………

We all packed back in the Miracle Van and as we approached Driver Emmy’s house he pulled over.  It was time for him to pay up on our deal from last trip.  You see PCM Team #3 all pitched in $50 each and bought the store a refrigerator for having cold drinks.   Emmy took our order and then opened each bottle carefully and gave us all straws.  He said this treat was from him as I let him bless us.   Then I told him here is your tip ssebo (sir) .  He graciously took it……..It is very difficult to outgive these Ugandan people.  They really know how to bless us and have done so every day all trip long.

We arrived at the hotel………thoroughly exhausted.  Driver Emmy and Supermom said “dis was a very special day………the children will remember it for a long time.”

So will we………..

Sula Bulungi

The Barrets

Thank you for praying for Emmy.  He is improving.  Pray for us as we travel to London tomorrow.  It will be Supermom in the air for the first time!!!!

The day began very early.  0700.  We loaded the Miracle Van minus one Emmy.  Pastor Emmy had to stay home and rest as he was still really weak from the malaria.  We had a nurse at home for him.

No worries, Supermom would fill in very nicely in this leadership role.  We started our journey and noticed something……the road.  It looked really nice but it was terrible.  Nearly the whole trip was spent going over various uneven parts of the dirt road.

This went on for nearly 2.5 hours.  Bull riding with noise…..I will have to tip my hat to my 3 girls.  No one complained.  Everyone held it all day …….;o)  if you know what I mean. We would soon arrive.

My last visit to Rwemikoma was November 2008.  Pastor Hillary is our lead here.   I was immediately struck by how much more organized the school seems. They have done a lot of work.  We recently paid off the land to the surprise of all the neighbors.  For $6000 we own this property now consisting of some sloped land and an elongated building with several classroom divisions.

It is serving the whole community as a day school as we don’t have any overnight guests nor are we serving lunch.  The children bring with them what they will eat for the day and I am sure that is not much.

We were greeted first by the staff.  They were all dressed in their Sunday best.  Currently they are working for no pay.  Ouch.  Whenever Pastor Emmy has some excess he tries to send it their way. I can’t imagine how he feels some time.  We had known this and we had brought a blessing to each of the 7 teachers…….100,000 shillings or the equivalent of $50 USD. It’s about 1/2 of our Mbarara teachers but we are just getting started. What I told them is as we gather some sponsors for these children, we could talk about trying to be more consistent to our support.  What we wanted to do on this trip is establish ourselves on this land and tell them we are coming with the support. We are not sure when or how fast…….but it is coming soon….. Each teacher waiting patiently as I handed them this blessing.  None extending a hand for anything until it was offered.  It is rather amazing here in Uganda.  No one hardly sticks their hand out and asks for anything.  They are a humble meek people.  I LOVE THAT.  Next we gave them all a PCM orange staff shirt.  Oh my goodness…….every one of them put them on right away………on top of their button down shirt and ties.

THANK YOU Jeff and Stef Bice for outfitting all 43 of our pastors, and now 27 of our teachers via GoinPursuit.com.   They were a huge hit.  In fact we saw one of the Rwemikoma teachers in Mbarara the next day and guess what…….he still had his on.  Amazing……..they love em.  Thank you!!

Next up was our primary mission……pictures of all the children.

PRAISE THE LORD FOR ASHLEY FERGUSON.  She had not only made all of their name plates and decorated them so beautifully, but she put every class in a packet and we brought each class to the photo classroom and voila………we were done in no time.  WAHOO……..THANK YOU ASH !!!!  Bailey entertained the other classes while we were taking pictures.  Way to go girls!!

Next up we went outside for some fun and games.  Amazing how much fun these kids can have with nothing besides themselves. No video games, no TV, no other electronic distractions.   They are so over rated.

We heard tons of laughs and squeals.  We knew they were going to need something to refresh themselves so I sent Pastor Hilllary to the village store…… back he came with bananas and drinks for all of them in crates. Coke, Sprite, Fantas…….he bought one for each of them.

I am sure they never get one of these very often as they rather drink the water drawn from the local lakes.  What was more surprising is all the children held on to their snack until EACH child had one.  Quite a feat…….no one spilt a drop and everything was thoroughly enjoyed.  We had brought some small candy canes for each of them and shared the story of the candy cane with them.

It was a hit with many of the local town people who had begun to gather.  You see we feel a sense of urgency to spread God’s Word.  For twenty cents a day per child,  we can influence nearly 200 children with a Christian education from licensed teachers. You see one of the things I have noticed on this trip is that Islam is creeping in to the villages more than ever before.  We need to do something……….We have to act……..time is short…….

What we will take away most from this experience is what a ripe opportunity this is.  It is some major low hanging fruit. These children are beautiful and deserve to be helped.

They are not near a major city or some huge relief organization.  Rather they live in the rural Ugandan village. Not many Muzungis come here but today there were 4.    For hardly anything…….$1000 a month we can fullly staff this school, provide the needed supplies and influence the whole community for Christ.  As we grow in our sponsorships……..this work will be easily accomplished.

We gathered back in the Miracle Van after a beautiful short service at Pastor Hillary’s church.

We made it over those same seemingly thousands more pot holes and rivets in the road.  Funny,  no one seemed to care.  It was so worth it.

We are so thankful to partner with people of Rwemikoma.

Good Night

the Barrets

This is an account of our travels on Christmas Eve………..we visited 4 rural Ugandan churches.

We were not long for the road when we immediately pulled over to the left and noticed 14 zebra right next to the road.  WOW…..how beautiful.

First stop was Pastor Januanario’s church.  We arrived and were immediately impressed with his home.  You see he has constructed a home built of stones that he has carried from the nearby mountain.   The only house of stone of all the pastors we had seen yet.  We sat in his living room and immediately noticed the tons of flies everywhere. We tried not to make much notice but my heart feels for this man.  This is the land of milk, and if it is the land of milk it must be the land of cows, and if there are cows there will be flies.  Anyway, we were able to present him his Proclaimer, audio Bible and you could just see the excitement on his face and that of others.

We stepped outside and watched them hold this Proclaimer and start listening.  This has to be one of my favorite pictures of the week.  We were surprised to see Elsam (our chief cook) and Pastor Charles here at his home.  We would learn they came to pick up our Christmas meat……some Ugandan “Buuuullll” as Elsam says. Can tell you it was actually pretty good. Monica and I had some the next day………We left before the processing fun began….Driver Emmy had to take return after taking us to the hotel with the seats out of our Miracle Van to transport all the tasty treat to our school.  The PCM Dump Truck was at the plantation collecting food and was not available……… Before we left Pastor Januanario he told us of an incredible story of his bike. I will share it in a future post or story.

Second stop was Pastor Stephen’s home.  We visited his church in July and now it is covered with some beautiful orange flowers in front.

We pulled up the Miracle Van in front of his 4 circular grass huts all of which he has built. Amazing resourcefulness.  The floors are covered with animal skins.  We presented him his Proclaimer and he couldn’t have been happier.

In July he was the Pastor that was the most happy to receive his cell phone………He jumped higher than all the other 43.  I love to see him smile.  We reloaded the van and were off again after praying with him some of sitting on his animal skin carpet.

Third stop was the “singing church”  Pastor John’s church.

Why do I call it that?  Well it has the most beautiful acoustics due to its concrete floor and cleanliness.  Here is one of the little cleaners.

Last time Jay and Monica sang the Revelation Song here.  Pastor John was not here. Instead we had to go through the village to his home.  Driver Emmy said to be on the lookout for Promise, one of our school children as we passed through.  Unfortunately we did not see her.  We did pull up to Pastor John’s home and were struck by its beauty.  This man is doing fairly well.  Beautifully decorated flowered yard and colorful home.  We took a picture on his beautiful patio and headed inside.

There were seated very comfortably in his living room.  His wife was not there but several of his children were there.

He then said he was “closing the year very well.”  We were not sure what he meant.  He said the Lord was blessing him today.  Pastor John said he had never had a white man in his home before.  Now he had 4. We were so grateful to be the first.

I think if I could pick anywhere to live in rural Uganda, this is where I would want to be.  We had a nice time visiting, and the Barret girls played some songs in his home and then we took off again.  I asked again as we drove through the tiny village nearby if we could ask if someone could find Promise. Several of the village children went to look for her as we pulled off the side of the road.  I kinda felt like “Dog the Bounty Hunter” looking for people but I really wanted to say Hi to her and give her a hug.  We are saddened to report that she had traveled on Christmas Eve to some nearby family.  Sorry Danny and Susan.(her sponsors) ……You will just have to join us in 2010 in the Miracle Van.  ;o)

Our fourth stop was the most beautiful church and it is still under construction. You see another Pastor Reuben and several of the people from his village had decided to build a church on top of a hill.

It is not easy to get to,  but once you make the climb you are amazed at the beauty.  You can see a long way and it is a terrific blessing just to be there.  One of our PCM friends from Mckinney, Texas,  Arch and his wife Sherry, have just recently donated the funds for the roof.  We were so amazed at this roof.  You see it is blue, unlike any church in the area.

It is a very special iron and Pastor Reuben is so thankful to have this very special roof.  The roof is nearly up but many of the workers left for Christmas delaying its completion.  This place is special is all I can say.   We will be back here to glorify the Lord on top of the hill.  I can’t wait.

Our final stop was the beloved Chicken Church.  One of my favorite places on the earth.  This is a picture of the new floor at the church.

This mud hut church taught me how to give.  I used to think I was generous but not until I met this man, Pastor Johnson.

His wife was there and greeted Monica again quite warmly.

This place can really rock with worship let me tell you.  Today everyone at the church was busy at home preparing for Christmas.  I asked Pastor Johnson if they would be there tomorrow and of course he said yes.  At 10 oclock this place would be full Christmas Day.  It is the first place these Ugandans go on Christmas.  Oh Lord do they have it right……… As we were getting ready to go Bailey and Libby said,  “Look dad there are my pants.”

Sure enough they were there.  Some how I am sure Supermom had spread some of the blessings we had given them and a few years later we met these pants again.  It made me think if I could just take my closet or my girls’ closets and dump 90% of it here I would. One of the things that struck me at the crusade is that we saw kids there for three straight days.  One thing was the same for nearly all of them……..they had the same outfit on everyday. Nearly everyone of them. ……..Oh my…………Lord help me to live a simpler life and be a better steward of the dumptruck of blessings you have given me.

We are all 4 so blessed. We are so thankful to be here ……to see this………to be with them this Christmas

Sula Bulungi.

The Barrets

PS Pastor Emmy has been slowly improving. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS>  Now on oral malaria therapy.  We have kept him home these last 2 days.  Pray for more strength as we are traveling soon.

This is Monica.  Christmas Eve was Pastor Emmy’s 41st birthday!  We had planned to spend dinner with him but he wasn’t feeling well.  We had ordered him a birthday cake through the manager Edward at our hotel.  We decided to save it for Christmas morning.  Pastor Emmy arrived to pick us up in the morning to go to the wonderful Christmas worship service.  All the people of the church were dressed in their best clothes and cheerfully passed “Merry Christmases” along to everyone.  It was an awesome service as Jesus was lifted high on His birthday! The passion of their love for the King of Kings is truly amazing.  After the service,  we brought out the birthday cake and some presents for Pastor Emmy.

As I placed the birthday cake on the offering table,  Pastor Emmy leans over to me and says “Monica, this is my very first birthday cake.” I was astonished.  One of my favorite memories growing up was having a homemade cake made by my mother.  This past summer we were treated to many cakes for the mass wedding that Pastor Emmy and his wife Sarah had carefully planned out.  But now I understand how very special those cakes were for all of us! Pastor Emmy was beaming as he cut his own birthday cake into enough small pieces for everyone to eat.

Everyone sang to him and even blessed him with a special birthday offering.  He was so so happy and we were so glad his birthday was celebrated in such a special way.  Pastor Emmy and Jesus with back to back birthdays is just perfect really.  They both give of themselves over and over again. I hope I have an opportunity to make a cake for my friend someday! What a blessing that would be.

One cool miracle was totally made possible by Jennifer Alden.  She went to a great effort to individually wrap large candy canes with each of the children’s names on them and the story of how the candy cane represents Christ.  Jennifer bubble wrapped them but still we were all a little wary they would not arrive without casualties!  The whole time packing and rearranging as we came over seemed to be centered around the one bag that had the candy canes in them.  Oh me of little faith!  Every one of them was just perfect as we handed them out Christmas day!

Isn’t God good to perfect that which concerns us!  The little kids and even the big  kids all enjoyed the story so much and they made their “sweeties” last a long time!

It was worth the effort Jennifer - thank you friend!  An add on to this story happened today when we went out to visit Pastor Hillary’s church two hours away.  We gave out small candy canes to the new PCM school there and again related it to Christ and they all loved it.  One man from the village afterwards said “May I please have one of those candies so that I can go home and tell my family the story?”
Wow how fun is that!  The LORD can use every little thing for His glory!

Hi everybody this is Bailey. Christmas day was filled with many memories for me. A particularly special one was watching the children open their Christmas cards.  I know that every year our family receives many Christmas cards, but for these kids and adults it was their first Christmas card.

Elsam, the cook and security guard, absolutely loved his card from Mike and Annette Childress. He said, “I’m going to have my card specially covered so I can have it forever. It will bring me joy to look at it.”  When the kids received their cards, at first they just stood there amazed that someone in America remembered them for Christmas. As they opened their cards, many smiles and joy appeared on their faces.  Something so simple as a Christmas card lit up their precious spirits. I watched Frank open his card. He took out all the cards and pictures and spread them all out to see. But then he took all the papers and put them in the exact order they were in when he opened the card. He held that card close to his little vest. So cute! He was so joyful, and you could see his little crooked teeth smiling. All of the children loved their cards! What a joy!  Junior also loved his card.

He opened it and the card started to sing. All of the children started to laugh they loved it. They were all saying “Junior, Mr. Cha” Wow! I’m just so amazed. The joy is indescribable! We want to thank the Anderson Family for sending a card to every orphan child. Wahoo…..everybody got AT LEAST two cards. And also Mike and Annette Childress for writing a card to every child, teacher, staff, Pastor Emmy and Pastor Charles.

These cards will be treasured forever! Bailey and Libby had more fun passing these gifts out than I think I have ever seen……….

Hello this is Libby. This Christmas has been special because I didn’t go down stairs to find presents for me or a stocking full of goodies. I woke up in the best place you can be….Africa …….because it is about Jesus before presents. Everyone is so blessed in America but in Africa they are blessed by the Holy Spirit. After we had our church service it started to rain shortly after. I grabbed the big colorful umbrella thinking I was just going out there for fun but actually after I saw people trying to get from place to place I realized I could help them cross.

That’s what basically I did the whole afternoon , transporting people place to place.  I didn’t have lunch but I had the joy of the Lord full in me that I didn’t need lunch. (my dad ate some of this bull that Elsam cooked.) After a while my feet were mud covered from foot to knee. I started to head for the well and washing my feet off.  When  Catherine came over and started to wash them for me. WOW!!!!!! My mom and I both got washed feet I think that is pretty cool to me. That was definitely the Lord!!!! After I got my feet washed I once again started to transport people to places (like the church and the dorm rooms.) . My feet did get muddy again but it didn’t really matter. The person I remember most transporting was Frank.  He looked so smart I couldn’t let him get wet. I remember him holding my hand tightly so that he wouldn’t fall. He is adorable!!!! He is smiling much more now.  I am happy for that. Overall this Christmas has been the best because I wasn’t getting something that most likely don’t need at all to someone who never has even gotten a Christmas card. Thanks for all your prayers and hope you are blessed by these stories of these precious orphans! I hope you had a very merry Christmas!

This is Bub here now.  The highlight of the day for the orphans had to be their pillows and cases MADE WITH LOVE FROM LONGVIEW.  We all gathered in the other empty classroom as the rain really began to pick up.

It’s not a perfect building but it is what the Lord is providing for us right now.  We are thankful.  We only bought about 60 pillows so far as that would cover the orphans that are with us this week…….the other children (pastor children and needy children) are on holiday break with their families. We will buy the rest later.  It has been strange not to have all the children here but it has given us opportunity to get to know many of them very well.  We arranged the cases on a mat on the dry area of the floor and had the little girls come first.

They LOVED their pillowcases.  Oh my……..what a treat it was to watch this.  One by one each of the girls was called, they proceeded down front and had huge smiles on their faces.  In fact, we had to tell them not to just take off the top……they could take anyone they would like.

Can you imagine the humility and thankfulness these boys and girls have.  They would each say “thank you”  followed by “Praise God.”  WOW………There was so much going on in that tiny classroom as everyone was there watching…….

I know I could have done a better job with the media coverage here but I just couldn’t stop watching the proceedings myself. The older girls were next then the boys.

I had planned to teach them how to pillow fight…….but that will have to wait till maybe Sunday as I don’t want them to get these precious gifts dirty…..at least on day 1.  I told them to go straight to their beds and put their pillows on them and of course……they did.

The day ended with another apple blessing.

We had bought 100 this time and fed some of our neighbors………that was a treat to watch another piece of fruit get thoroughly enjoyed/ devoured.

It was the best Christmas we have ever experienced.  We will never forget it…………..We are ready to come back………

Mukama Asiimwe

The Barrets

Pray for Emmy……..he has gone for another blood test 12/26/09  and has returned with diagnosis of malaria.  Currently receiving IV treatment.   We just found out.  Bathe him in your prayers.  More to update later.

Merry Christmas from Uganda. We will not be posting our events from 12/24 on our trip back to Mbarara, or even all the details of today but rather today for Christmas we are going to tell the story of the PCM Happy Little Dump Truck.

We are thrilled to announce that the truck has been paid for in full. $19,000. Wow………we are so incredibly grateful to so many, many people. We are going to be sharing more about how this happened on our return to the US. We have to mention one special effort though………we are forever grateful to Dance and Drill for their enormous effort of involving so many in our project. Monica will be blogging this story very soon. GOD BLESS YOU LYNN !!!! We are also so grateful for Mr and Mrs Samples (pictured below) for making sure we had a multipurpose truck for this ministry on our arrival.

We are thrilled to say that the truck has already been used in all three purposes in just less than 1 week. First, it was used by the team to take timbers to the sight of the crusade, in order for them to be constructed into a platform. Pastor Charles pictured here with his youngest daughter will soon be using this fine vehicle for help with the boy’s dorm and drainage construction.

Second, it brought all our team from Reuben’s church to Kanoni each and every day, except the day it rained and we got to walk. ;o) And finally it drove to the banana plantation Christmas Eve and loaded up on food for our Christmas celebration today. What an amazing blessing.

Before we left on 12/16/09 we had a good start on funding the Gospel equipment that we used for the crusade (generator, speakers, sound board, worship instruments, microphones, projector etc.) It truly is a mobile evangelism unit. Never before at Kanoni have they been able to have such a crusade……in fact according to Pastor Reuben, over 70 people were saved and the local pastors have already begun to follow up with them. Wahoooo……..What great fruit already from this Gospel equipment.

We could literally write a book today about the Christmas we just experienced. I promise to fill you in the coming posts. THANK YOU ALDENS, MIKE AND ANNETTE, THE SEWING ANGELS, all the pillow donors……..I must wait to give each story its just due. Ok here is one quick picture just to give you a glimpse.

I think I could type all night describing what we saw. It is 11:43 pm Christmas night my 3 girls are fast asleep……….we are waking up early to head to Rwemikoma at 600am, our second Parental Care School to officially open our support of it and the teachers there as well as a trip to the PCM banana plantation. Please forgive me for delaying these precious moments………

Welaba “THANK YOU”  for understanding we need sleep.

Merry Christmas 2009

Love…….the Barrets

The day started with no power in Masaka again. No worries. Just get in the cold shower and go. We got some fruit at the hotel and learned at breakfast Pastor Emmy had a headache. Uh oh. We would drive to the local clinic and let him out for a blood test for typhoid and malaria. Supermom and Driver Emmy and I made it to market to pick up some fruits for one of my talks at the conference. Stop by the internet café to send off a blog and article to the paper and that pretty much chews up 2 hours. We had the results, praise God no malaria for Emmy. I could see how it could happen though…….there are a ton of mosquitos this trip.

Our day consisted of 3 major parts:

1. travel to Reuben’s church for the conference

2. travel to the crusade by foot in the mud

3. travel home to the hotel mudsurfing in the dark in the Miracle Van

I thought today I would have the rest of PCM TEAM #4 share on what they experienced today. There is some overlap but for sure some different perspective.

First up would be Libby:

Hi this is Libby here to share. One of the things I enjoyed doing here was talking at the pastor’s conference and also at the crusade.

At the pastor’s conference I talked about being the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Right after I had talked the rain poured like I had never felt before!

It felt like a hurricane because the sky was white and the trees going left and right and the rain hitting the iron sheets made lots and lots of noise. Thankfully it stopped because I couldn’t hear pastor Reuben J. I also talked about us being the sheep and Jesus the shepherd at the crusade. Now since I have done it I would love to talk again. I know now how Jesus felt talking to the crowds. The other thing that was amazing to me was that a girl named Josephine followed me the whole day smiling and walking right behind me.

While walking from the church to the crusade, I felt like we were playing a game of follow the leader. She was my little companion for the day. She even followed every step through the mud!

When my shoes started to get dirty or I would step in a puddle someone would say ‘’Saarry.’’ It was the kind of mud pigs would play in, but triple the times worse. Sloshing all over. Finally we got to an enormous mud puddle that was so big Bailey, mom, and I had to get carried over from Supermom and teacher Jonathan one at a time. Thankfully we did get over.

We got to the crusade and started playing with the kids. I always love playing with kids. Josephine was my all-time favorite kid overall . I am hoping she can come to Parental Care School because she doesn’t have the chance to go to school. Also because I would like to see her again. Well that sort of sums up my day. The excitement, joy, and big smiles are the qualities I would pick for today.

Bailey here now. Today was filled with many memories. Once we got to the site of the crusade after walking on the precious muddy road, we decided to take a quick break in the van. As we sat in the van, we started to hear a 15-year-old girl sing OPEN THE EYES TO MY HEART in English. I was amazed. First of all a girl in the middle of nowhere singing one of my favorite songs in English! But to make the story better, this morning my mom and I were listening to… you guessed it OPEN THE EYES TO MY HEART a version by our guitar teacher Justin Hayes. That is also the only song I have memorized by heart. Wow is that not the Spirit!! I know it was! The girl started to sing other worship songs I knew like HERE I AM TO WORSHIP.

The funny thing is that I had all the songs she was singing so I could play them on the guitar. I popped out the guitar and started to play those sweet worship songs. I made a new friend and her name was Jennifer.

I also played YOU’RE MY BROTHER YOU’RE MY FRIEND and showed the kids the motions to the song. They all loved it. All of the kids crowded around Libby, my mom and me. They would copy every move we showed them.

I could tell that they were just eating up every word that was sung. Jennifer then took me aside and tried to teach me some Ugandan. She spoke very good English. She would say an Ugandan word then I would repeat. But when she asked me to say the word for the second time well I forgot the word so I would just say a Spanish word J She would say “no, no.” I asked Jennifer to come up to the stage and sing the songs she knew with us. All of us sang the powerful songs. It was so great to sing with my dear Ugandan family! When it came time to leave, Jennifer came up to the van at least every minute to say, “I love you!” in words and in sign language. These people are so precious, and I’m so blessed to just spend time with my Ugandan family for Christmas! “God bless you!” as they say here all the time!

Now it is Monica sharing: Once we made our way to Pastor Reuben’s church within minutes of us entering to share our hearts a big storm came through. The precious church gathered as close to us as they could, while still being polite so that the rain would not pour into them through the windows as they are just openings without glass….yet the prettiest view we have ever seen.

While the storm kicked up in strength, James, teacher Emmy, Bonny and another guy all started to worship the Lord on the drums and about five ladies stood up to worship the Lord with all their hearts as a handful of children were in the back of the church dancing. A swoosh of wind howled through the church but that did not bring any fear to these people, they just worshipped the LORD even more. Before long it safely passed – Praise the LORD!

Driver Emmy and Pastor Emmy with wisdom had hurriedly driven the Miracle van to the crusade area before the rain started because the roads would turn impassable quickly. I agree so much with our friend “Ambush” that the adventure of going into these remote villages, mud surfing and passing through huge potholes is like riding a bull! In fact, the whole work that God is doing in Uganda can best be summed up like bull riding because His power is so evident minute by minute here! It is the grace of God that keeps us from being thrown off!

After our time at the church we went by foot to the crusade area. I hung on to Sarah’s arm as we carefully tromped through the thick red mud of the back roads of Uganda. Sarah and teacher Emmy kept apologizing the whole way and saying “this is Africa now”! We tried to work around the deep mud as best we could but I was not completely successful as Driver Emmy is at driving, and down went my right foot into the mud. I laughed it off saying in America we spend money on special mud beauty treatments and I get my best one here in Uganda! Then we approached a big puddle that was impassable without getting really wet. Immediately, I had two heroes to my rescue. Teacher Jonathan and Sarah made a little swing for me to sit in with their arms and off we went across!

I am so amazed at their desire to take such good care of us! The walk was beautiful with the cornfields and pretty African flowers alongside the road.

It was truly a wonderful side adventure that I thank God for! Once we made it to the crusade area, Grace and Sarah insisted I give them my shoes so they could clean them. Then Sarah had me sit down and she began to wash my feet with a bottle of precious water.

She wouldn’t take no for an answer and she lovingly washed my feet and dried them with a scarf! Yes I could have cried right then and there!

I can tell you the scripture about Jesus washing His disciples feet is forever implanted in my heart and mind now. Yesterday, my husband washed the feet of two precious pastors and today I had my feet washed by Pastor Emmy’s wife Sarah!! My God is so wonderful to allow us to have such tremendous friends in Christ Jesus! I am humbled by their great love.

Returning to Bub now.

Hey look there is Gabriel our gatekeeper. Merry Christmas Gabriel. You are a hardworking man.

We stayed till about 8pm…..it was pitch dark but the crusade team was going strong. In fact, no one wanted to leave but we knew the roads would be tricky and the mud surfing was going to be starting quite soon. I have traveled this road to Reuben’s multiple times, have done it in mud with “Ambush”, Karla and Jay. Yet I have not done it in the mud at night. This would be new. With the skill of a precise surgeon, Driver Emmy made it around the corn fields, missed the people, ventured in to just the right pot holes and accelerated uphill with some creative fish tailing yet never leaving the road or hitting other passers by. I have spent many hours sitting beside or behind “the Playmaker” and I am continually amazed at this man. I can always tell when he concentrates a bit harder…….usually when we are at a valley where all the water collects. I have noticed this trip he has been mumbling something to himself at all of the critical moments of driving our van. (ie the point where a simple wrong decision will strand us in the village overnight). I waited for the next valley and listened closer ……and here is what he keeps saying…….”Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” Amen brother. I bet we would all have a faith like this if we spent day after day transporting Pastor Emmy everywhere the Spirit leads him. I will go anywhere with these “Emmanuel’s.” ………Without a doubt, “God is with us.”

Sula Bulungi and Merry Christmas to all……

The Barret Family

We woke up more refreshed today but there was something missing…….power.  Somehow we all took a cold shower and loaded some snacks and waters and headed straight for the Miracle Van. We had to make a few stops in Masaka as we watched our fearless driver try to talk the parking officer out of charging us to park while Pastor Emmy went to buy some air time.

The crusade started with a smaller crowd at first.  Most of the people were waiting for the sun to recede.

That is one of the things most noticeable about this trip. It is hot.  I have never been this hot in Uganda before…….but each trip is different.  We were amazed at all the beautiful people that are here.  We just love taking pictures of them.  All of us are learning how to take some real winners.  It helps to have a nice piece of “glass” as the camera pros say.

As the crusade started,  we were blessed with many singers.  And let me say many.  We had told Emmy that we would just share a brief word and do most of our talking now on day 2 and 3.  So this would be a night of Praise.  One of the favorites of the night was Johnny Freeman.

He gave his testimony about being lost and then gave his praise via song and dance to our King.  The man could dance like no other. After each song teacher Jonathan and Emmanuel would ask the crowd to give a “might clap” to God for the song.  ;o)

We were in the back of the crowd mainly, but what we noticed is that many eyes kept looking back at us.  I am sure people here don’t see many white people or families.  In fact, we haven’t seen many white people. The fewest of any trip by far.   To be honest…….we haven’t seen any the last 2 days in Mbarara or here at Kanoni.  We have been welcomed warmly with hundreds of hugs and handshakes.

Monica and Bailey were in the back of the crowd early on and the story goes that Monica was so in to the worship that she missed the entire herd of longhorn cattle walking right behind her!!!

I guess when you are a Longhorn, you can stand amongst them without even thinking about it.  Next up was some more singers and then finally we were called.  The night had gotten darker.   The lights were now on.   I shared very briefly then told the crowd I surely can’t sing and dance (like Johnny Freeman) but my 3 girls would be singing and Monica would be sharing briefly.  They got up there and sang “Nothing but the Blood “ for the nearly 1000 or so present.

They did so incredibly well.  It was hard to get a real number because people were everywhere.  In buildings, in the road, up front, behind the stage…….everywhere……

Next Monica took the microphone. She had a sense of purpose like I had seen one previous time.  You see several years ago our church was helping the New Orleans Katrina Hurricane evacuees.  Monica heard the Lord tell her we needed to bring a bus of these hurting people to our church.  So we got the keys to the mini bus and we drove it over to where they were staying.  Monica burst in to the UT Cowan Center front door, bypassing the check in gate with some immediate questions from those working the security desk. I told them plain and simply she was on a mission.  Well needless to say she loaded the van that day and we brought a busload of all black people to our nearly all white church and then to have barbeque after the service.    Well that was the same look we saw last night. She took the microphone from me,  and had a huge purpose.  To share the Gospel in just a few short minutes…….after she was done one man named Edward (black shirt) came forward to accept Christ.

Praise God. We knew the crusade would go long in the evening but we were thankful to see some fruit before we left.

What a night.  We then quickly packed the Miracle Van,  headed out on the village path and got stuck in a mudhole.   Pitch black, no one remotely close by.

We could see the faint glow of the crusade behind us.  Emmy and I got out as we rocked the Miracle Van free and the Playmaker led us through the winding path to our hotel.  We arrived about an hour later.  We were beat tired but we all knew this was worth it.  We needed sleep badly and then we would be ready again for more.

We are excited to see what will come of Day 2 of the Crusade.   Pray for more strength, more rest, food to nourish us, and the right words to share from the Word.

Sula Bulungi

PCM Team #4

We started out the day with a bit of stress….trying to repack everything for the crusade and leave all the Christmas items at our hotel.  We loaded the Miracle Van and made a quick arrival at school.  There we would find the children waiting for us.  They were excited you could tell.  First we decided to let them pick out their Christmas present…….one dress or one pant/shirt combo for the boys.

There was quite order as the pile was made and the children made their way to select one.

Before we could turn around, they had all made it to their dorm room, tried it on, and were wearing it proudly.   We kept telling them they looked “so smart” as “Daddy” (Pastor Emmy as they call him) would say.   Wow!!!  Such pure joy with 1 item to wear.  There are no other words to describe it.  Thank you Hackneys and Greene families for making this a reality.

Next I had brought some parachute men (just one box) to tell them the story of how Jesus will return.  They intently listened and then I demonstrated how this would work launching it high in the sky and watching the return. I was worried we didn’t have enough but just like the juice box/ snack after the soccer last trip,  we had EXACTLY the right number for every child.  Praise God.  Each nearly bowing and saying such genuine “thank yous.” I wish I could communicate this better as it is a moving experience to hear from each child every time a blessing is giving. We thank you for your making these moments possible for us to experience.  What we would see next would amaze us.  The children smiling ear to ear launched this toy in the air and then without us saying anything…….they were all yelling something.

We couldn’t believe our ears.  They were all saying ………”Jesus come back.”   ”Jesus come back.”   No matter if Jesus looked like an army soldier holding a bazooka…….this is the desire of their hearts.

Next up was another toy I had brought……a magnetic dart board.

This had been a gift from Monica’s sister to me, and it is difficult to buy anything for me I know.  Like most of us I really don’t have any needs. But the Lord told me to bring this with me this trip.  The gift I would receive seeing them receive it would be my gift from Meggan. Thank you Meggan and Rich.  We put the board on the wall of the dorm and let them begin to play.  Jude was one of the first up and he provided no doubt of his many talents.

A “Bullseye” with his first toss.  They enjoyed playing this for a while before we moved on to the next game.

I had walked in the dorm and found a brown mat on the ground.  On closer appearance it was not a mat but the checker board we had brought them last year.  You see my heart was moved by seeing Aron’s handmade checker board out of paper, and ink pen and white/blue bottle caps.  We brought 3 new giant checker boards for them to play on our last trip in July 2009.  What I didn’t realize is that they would be used so often, the board would quickly become so unrecognizable.

No worries for the orphans though, it didn’t stop their ability one bit.  I issued a challenge match……..Jude vs Libby.  If Jude wins all the children get a “sweet”…….if Libby wins all the staff get a piece a candy.  It was a tight match but I think Jude was the winner due to his understanding better of the “local rules” and the ability of the king to move across the board.

It’s ok…….i think Libby enjoyed giving them all a smartie as much as playing the game.  It was a close one though.  I had come so close to bringing some more of these checker boards from Cracker Barrel before leaving.  I can remember Monica asking me why are we stopping at Cracker Barrel on the way home from Dallas.  I wanted to see if they would have any other large games for the children all to play.  I was disappointed that they didn’t.  I never realized I should have gotten some more checker sets.  I can promise you one thing…….there will be room in the next bag I pack for about 4 more of those giant checker sets………..In fact i think i may have FIFTY POUNDs of games in one bag!!!!

Thank you, Jeske family, for these great streamers!

The day was getting late and we knew we had a drive in front of us.  We left the children and promised to return on Christmas Eve.  We were accompanied by the World’s Greatest Driver as all who ever have traveled in the Miracle Van would attest.  Driver Emmy.  With such skill, he maneuvered us over countless road construction areas, speed bumps and constantly had an eye to “claim” the best road watching a constant eye for the very large buses, the kings of the Ugandan roads as they roar past everyone.  We finally made it off the main road and were now in the village.

So incredibly green.  Lots of standing water and mosquitos.  I can see how malaria can be a huge problem.  We made it through this narrow path of road, in and through numerous potholes……..never fazing our “Playmaker” driver due to his likeness to Michael Irvin.  The road had narrowed due to all the growth and around each corner you never knew what you would find. When we got close to Kanoni there was a problem.  A dump truck was in the middle of the road stuck. Several young men were trying to free it.

“Emmy squared” went out to help.  After much rocking back and forth……….it was free due to the help of Driver Emmy, Pastor Emmy and the men in the truck.  Then it was our turn.  With such ease……we passed this giant pothole with the Playmaker barely sticking his head out of the window (my classification as level 2 for driving concern.)  In a few minutes we were at Kanoni.   We parked the van and made it to sit on a porch nearby.  We had been here before as Jay, Ambush and I had let Karla stay right here at this very spot while we trekked though the mile of mud in the rain to visit Pastor Reuben, his church and home.  I never knew we would return to this exact little area with a crowd to hear from us. We soon greeted the PCM Mbarara team (Jonathan, teacher Emmy, Bonny, and many others)  who were busy setting up the stage.  We were greeted warmly and knew we were right where God wanted us to be for Christmas.  We were ready for a crusade.  The team had shared that 40 more people were saved Sunday night prior to our arrival on Monday afternoon.  Praise God.  That was 60 in two days……….

To be continued–maybe even from the site of all the action….. (one more praise………I have a new little friend……..a portable modem given to our team by Edward our Mbarara hotel manager. Wahoo…….$7 a day and we have access all over Uganda. We are so thankful for this gift and the ability to allow us to communicate to you.)

Mukama Asiimwe

Bub, Monica Bailey and Libby

Day #4–Part 2 coming soon…