Dec 29th Update (Looking Back)

2010 has been such an eventful year for Cornerstone. I was talking with Pastor Rogers last night on the phone and we were remembering that last year at this time, he had moved to Budaka with his family and was getting all the things in order for us to begin the orphanage. We were unsure how everything would happen. Would the money needed to begin be there? Where would we get the staff to work with the kids? How would we begin a new church? So many questions...and a picture from the Lord. He had shown what He wanted to do. We were to walk it out with Him.
I began sharing the vision with all of you, and through our prayers and financial gifts, we were able to begin. What a year it has been! Here are some highlights:

• In January we visited several area churches and told them we were taking orphans, and we would take 2 from each church. In walking around town, a woman asked us to pray for her 2-month old who had malaria and she was instantly healed by our Father.
  
• In February we held a 3-day crusade in Budaka and then began the meeting as a church with 28 people on our first Sunday (10 of those "borrowed" and 8 family members)
• On February 15th, the orphans were brought to the orphanage and we began having a large family...
• In March school began for the orphans. Dina came to visit and stayed 2 weeks.
• In April, one of you gave money to purchase a sewing machine so someone in Budaka would be able to do tailoring as a trade
• In May, I came home for 3 weeks to present the need for land and buildings. (To date, we have received well over $30,000 for this cause! Praise the Lord. Thank you for responding to Him.)
• In June we had our 2nd visitation from relatives of the kids. They brought cassava, g-nuts, guava and oranges from their homes. The church attendance was at 94.
• In July we found 4 children who had been abandoned by their mom and brought them to the orphanage. Also, Jessica and her mom came to church and God began healing Jessica from the skin disease she had had since she was 2 months old.
  
• August we began Saturday School...with 190 kids from the community
• In September, Moses contracted tuberculosis and we rushed him to the hospital in Mbale. God has completely restored him.
• In October, we had a crusade in 3 villages and in Budaka and had over 2,000 in attendance and 280 come to know Jesus as their Savior. We purchased a little over an acre of land. We also had the World Race Team come and work with us for the month.
• In November, we had over 300 children come to Saturday School. The church attendance continued to increase and now about 175 come each week. We began working with the architect for a site plan so we can begin building an orphanage building for our kids to have a permanent home.
  
• This month, the kids got to celebrate Christmas with a special meal and going to church. On the 26th, Cornerstone held a Christmas party for the community and over 200 people came and got to hear the Gospel message.
  

So many other little and big things have happened this year, but I wanted to share these with you to say let's rejoice in what God has done and is doing through Cornerstone ministries in Budaka! You all are a part as you pray and give financially. Thank you for partnering with us in this ministry that God is calling into being. What a mighty God we serve!!
I am excited for this next year as we begin a school for the community (end of January), build a home for our kids and see God do more miraculous things in Budaka. Last year at this time we had no idea how many wonderful things He would do. We believe that this next year will be the same: we can't comprehend what He has prepared for our kids and the people of Budaka in 2011.
May God bless you as you continue to listen to Him and partner with us.
In gratefulness and love,
Laurie

Dec 23rd Update

Greetings, Friends!

It is 2 days before Christmas here in the States, but only 1 1/2 days for the kids. They are getting so excited. It's not for presents (people in Uganda don't exchange gifts for Christmas), but for the church service and special food. They will go to church on Christmas morning for at least 2 hours to praise and worship Jesus who came to Earth as a baby to save us from our sins. The children LOVE to go to church! They love to sing, they love the specialness of getting to go someplace on a different day than normal. They love to interact with other children and adults.

Then, they will go home and have a special meal. This will include:

• chicken (they have had chicken only 2x this year - it's quite expensive there)
• matooke (green bananas that have been boiled and mashed - this is a staple there)
• pineapple or watermelon
• rice
• cake
• soda

The internet has not been working well in Mbale, so I do not have current pictures from Rogers, but be sure to look at the video links to see a video showing all the kids. This was taken on their 4th time to have ice cream, thanks to the E! kids.

I have also included the picture of the 20 kids in March with their teachers, David on the left and Betty on the right. (This was before we had Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses.) Rogers will try again next week to get pictures to us.



I want to let you know about a couple of exciting things that are coming up. I will tell you more in the weeks to come, but here are the bare bones:

• As one of the self-supporting businesses we are doing, I will be starting a restaurant serving American foods, including cookies, cinnamon rolls, scones, hamburgers and other things that cater to the business people, diplomats and Ugandan business and political figures who drive the road through Budaka from Kampala to Mable (2nd largest city in Uganda). A couple of other orphanages have done this type of thing in other areas of Uganda and have helped support their works this way.
  
• The school for the community will begin at the end of January. Advertisements for staff and students are going out over the radio beginning this week in Mbale and Budaka. (Yes, Budaka does have a radio station. Can you believe it?) The school will be one of the self-supporting businesses within 2 years of beginning it - fees from students will cover the costs of our children's education.
  

Both of these things will be in addition to the ministry with our kids, the church, the chicken/egg business and the land and building project. Please be in prayer for us as we begin these things. Both of the new ventures will cost additional money, of course. We are interested in financing these through micro loans so that as they begin, the principal will be paid back each month over the next 5 years. If you are interested in helping Cornerstone in this way, please email and let me know. Or, perhaps you know someone who would be interested in helping the children and adults of Budaka in these ways.

Thank you to all of you who continue to give generously to the work God is doing in and through Cornerstone. As you give, the children are loved to Jesus, They are fed, clothed, educated, disciplined, encouraged and helped medically as needed. You are truly partnering with God and us to do a great work in Budaka Uganda. THANK YOU and have a wonderful Christmas!!

Laurie

December 14

Greetings, Cornerstone Friends!

I'm excited to get to communicate with you today about what God is doing in Budaka. Although I am not there presently, I talk and email with Rogers at least 3 times a week. He sent pictures. The first is of the kids lined up for breakfast. The doorway they are going through is the kitchen. The one in front with her porridge and boiled egg is Margret (age 4). Brother Stephen is sitting and washing dishes. The children in line are, from the left, Junior, Amos, Ronald, Ben and Vanessa. In front of Vanessa is Auntie Rachel.
The second picture is of Vanessa and Moses. They are 2 of the 4 children we got in July after their mom abandoned them. Vanessa is 4ish and Moses is 2ish. They are somber because the other children have gone to their home villages, clans or extended families for 5 days, and only 6 children are at the orphanage. When you're used to 24 being around, 6 is pretty sparse! The 18 children who went home all came back on Saturday. It is the desire and mandate of the district officials where we live that the children have time in their cultural birthplaces at least once a quarter. Rogers said all 18 came back with malaria, colds and/or skin rashes. This is one of the frustrations of sending them home, but one we must live with.
My most exciting thing of the week was getting to talk with all the children on Monday. Each came to the phone and I got to love on them...albeit from a distance...and remind them that the Lord loves them and has a plan for their lives. They wanted to know when I was coming back, and Charles asked if I was coming back "today?". I so want to be with them, hold them and care for them. But, right now I get to be here, loving them from a distance!
Aside from the pictures you get each week, I have downloaded videos of the kids talking and playing, as well as a video of Rogers thanking those of you from Evergreen for your participation in the ministry in Budaka. You can access them from this website: www.cornerstoneministriesuganda/blogspot.com. Just click on the link "Videos" on the left side, and enjoy! I will be loading as many videos as possible before I go back, so keep checking.
Please be in prayer for Moses. We will know this week if the birthmark on his leg is cancerous. They have sent a biopsy to a large lab in Kampala for testing.
I love you all and have been having SO much fun sitting and talking with all of you, showing videos and pictures and rejoicing together with you in what God is doing. Thanks for your part in making all the ministry possible in Budaka! Thanks to those of you who have given extra in addition to your regular monthly giving at this time of year - we are beginning a school soon and the extra will help us buy desks, chalkboards, paper, etc.!
The land and building fund total income right now is $31,800. We have spent $24,000 up to this point on the land, a survey, government fees and an architect who is drawing plans for the site and buildings. The balance we will use to begin building when the plans are done. Praise God! Thanks to those of you who have heard from the Lord to take up the challenge. 2 new ones came in in the past 2 weeks. We thank Him for His work for these children - we will be able to take more kids as we can build and expand.
Sure love you all...and am continuing to enjoy running water and electricity...
Laurie

December 9

Greetings, Friends!
It is rainy and cold here in Oregon. I'm finding it is nice to feel cold, remembering how hot it will be upon my return to Uganda.
Everyone is doing well in Uganda. There were a couple of cases of malaria last week among the children, but they are well now.
The first picture is from last Thursday. Rogers is holding Moses (don't you love the 2 different colors of socks?!). Moses loves it when Pastor Rogers or I come over. He reaches for us and wants to be held. When you think this little boy had no mommy time and never knew his daddy, you can understand why he wants the attention of a man or woman in his life. Rachel, his "mother" at the orphanage, has other children to attend to also, so he doesn't get so much individual time. Several of you who have seen the videos of Moses bathing and standing up, have said you just want to go hold him...or you want to adopt him. He is a special boy.
That reminds me that thanks to Carlos, we have videos on the blog website. I will post more of them so you can hear our kids and see them playing. There will be one there of all of them playing the hokey pokey. They love it - the hokey pokey, not the video :-)
Saturday School was last Saturday, the 4th, and I have included a picture that Rogers sent me. He is telling the Bible story in this picture. There were 248 children from the community. Some come from villages that are 2-3 miles away. They love to come and play, be with other children and, of course, get a snack at the end. Rogers told the Christmas story and the good news that Jesus was sent as a baby for all of us.
The architect has sent the first drawings via email and we are working on getting those finalized to be able to present to the local government for approval. Please continue to pray that all will go smoothly with all of this and the powers that be will let us move on to building soon.
Thanks to all of you who regularly give to this ministry! God is using you and me, Rogers and the staff, to change these children's lives and the lives of the people of Budaka.
Thanks to those of you that have taken up the call to pray for Budaka and Cornerstone. Our Father is answering and giving us wisdom to proceed.
Thanks, too, to the 3 new families who took the $1,000 challenge to raise money for the land and buildings in Budaka so we can take more children and begin a school for our kids and the community. God bless you!
My schedule of travel is this: I will be in California (the Bay Area for now) Jan 13-29 and Texas (Austin) Jan 29-Feb 3. Then I will be in Arizona (Phoenix) Feb 12-15, and Idaho (Burley) Feb 24-28. If you are in or near these places, I would love to see you and tell you in person how thankful we are for your love and support for our kids. Please shoot me an email and let me know how we can meet. (I will be in Oregon and southwest Washington during the other parts of January and February. The only day I am not available is January 10th, when the Ducks play...)
I love you all and hope to see most, if not all of you before I go back to Uganda in March.
Laurie

Dec 1st Update

I'm finding it hard to remember what day is what here in the States. There was so much routine to my week in Budaka, and Mondays was always 1) phone call with Abby; 2) meeting with Rogers; 3) email all of you. The rhythm was great. Now I have great visits with all of you...but no rhythm. All of that to say sorry this email is 2 days late!!

I talked with Rogers yesterday to catch up on what's happening in Budaka. He will be sending pictures on Thursday and I will pass them along, but for now here's the info:

1. A woman from the apartments connected to where we meet for church came on Sunday to church. She is Muslim, but said she has been listening to our worship and preaching for these several months and decided she needed to confess Christ as her Savior. Praise the Lord!
2. The husband of a woman who has come periodically over the past months came on Sunday and wanted to get saved. This woman has come, but has been embittered about her husband leaving her, having no money to feed her kids, etc. She had lost faith that he would ever come around. Now they are back together and both walking with the Lord. Hallelujah!
3. David - I have attached a picture of him so you know who he is - had a worm in his knee, but they got it out and he is doing better. The picture shows him after his first experience painting. Thanks to Jullane who sent the art supplies and to Kirsten and the rest of the World Race Team who taught the kids to paint.
4. The chicks are still not there to begin the chicken/egg business. They were promised, we had paid over 1/2 of the cost as a deposit, but after 3 weeks now of waiting, they still aren't there. Rogers made a trip to Mukono (about 3 hours away) and put some pressure on the people - threatened to take them to the police if they didn't do what they promised - and sounds like we will have chicks within a week or so.
5. The kids are going "home" to their villages on Monday for 5 days. Their school is over on Friday. This is a requirement of the District government (to send them home for some time at the end of every term of school), and the kids do enjoy a short time visiting cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. They were very anxious (before I left) to be sure they would be able to be back to Cornerstone by Christmas. As a matter of fact, Margaret (age 4) gave me her request for Christmas dinner - "I want chicken, ice cream, cake and 4 porks." Not sure what 4 porks are, and pretty sure she won't have ice cream (has to be driven from Mbale!), but it was really cute. I need to explain to her that we are not a restaurant that takes orders...

Just a reminder to all of you in the Hillsboro area that there is a meeting next Monday night, December 6th, at 7pm where I will share more information of what is going on, show more pictures and several videos of the kids and staff. There's a video of the kids doing the Hokey Pokey - you don't want to miss that!!

Anyway, email me if you would like to come to the meeting and I will let you know where it's at.
God bless you today. Please remember to pray for our kids (Ronald, Charles, Emma, Ben, Junior, Johnson, Dovico, John, Peter, Isaac, Moses, Amos, Barthlomew, David, William, Stephen, Brenda, Hellen, Margaret, Charity, Natasha, Vanessa, Oliver and Christine) and our staff (Rogers, Betty, David, Stephen, Christine, Mary, Cephas, Geofrey and Rachel). Oh, and the church - sorry, can't list all their names. Pray for safety and that all their needs are met.

Thank you.

Laurie

Nov 22nd Update - Greetings from this side of the globe!

My dear friends and family:

It's great today to be able to write to you from here in Hillsboro. I can't believe how fast the pictures attach! Wow...forgot about internet connections here, and how fast they are. I'm also astounded with how COLD it is here. I have a turtleneck and sweater over it and still feel cool.
The first picture today is one Rogers took this morning and sent to me of the kids playing during break time (recess). They are in the courtyard of the orphanage. He sent a series of shots. You can see they are enjoying themselves. They do love their breaks! And they are in the midst of testing right now as it is almost the end of the school year. Great news - 2 of our kids have tested high enough to enter P3 next year. That's remarkable as they all came in at lower than P1 level. Haven't heard how all the rest have done, but am so proud of Brenda and Ronald!
The second picture is of Moses having a bath. He is such a happy boy these days...and he loves bathing! My last day at the orphanage (last Wednesday), he was whining when I went over, so I picked him up and cuddled him. Within 3-4 minutes he was fast asleep in my arms. So precious!
Someone tried to break into the orphanage on Friday night - they had a hoe (a formidable weapon in Uganda) and tried to hurt Cephas (our night watchman). I'm happy to report that Rogers said Cephas and Geofrey took him down and got him to the police station where he is still sitting waiting to go before a judge. God is watching out for our little ones! Thanks to all of you who are praying for protection!!
I am slowly getting over jet lag and hope to be on my feet and ready to go by next week. I'd love to meet with as many of you as possible and will be contacting those of you who have contacted me. Please let me know if you have time and would like to see some videos and more pictures of the kids.
Have a great Thanksgiving! Don't forget to give thanks for the miracles of 24 little lives that have been saved from uncertain futures...and for the many other miracles that are Cornerstone Uganda Ministries. Thank you...all who pray for, support and love these kids and staff.
Laurie

Nov 15th Update

Greetings, my friends and family!

I have only 3 more days in Uganda before I return to the States for a bit. I am excited to be back to some comforts of home, but so sad about leaving my kids for so long! We told them on Saturday night that I was leaving this week, but not how long I will be gone. I am giving and getting as many hugs as possible to hold all of us over... One of the older girls said she was fine with me leaving as long as I was back in a week. :-)
I had a great time with Moses on Saturday - just went over and spent an hour talking and working with him. He is such a joy...and so eager for relationship! He has learned where his nose is now and understands my English when I ask him. Next, ears, mouth, hands, etc.! He is growing so much! We weighed him this week at a checkup with his HIV/TB doctor - he is now 10kg - that's 22 pounds! When you think only 6 weeks ago he was only 7kg (about 15 pounds), that's great! The boy is growing. I will talk with a speech therapist when I'm in the States (thanks, Sharon!) to see how we can help him in his development. I also am praying for someone who can give weekly attention to him to get him ready to walk. He seems to have no interested in crawling, walking, talking, etc. Except - He is definitely interested in gesturing and pointing to "tell" on one of the children or on his "mother" who won't let him have something he wants. Just like all kids, eh?

The first picture I've sent is from last Sunday at church. This is the left side of the church in our new room. It's so much more spacious! We also were able to purchase 14 more chairs. This gives us a total of 33 chairs that CCC owns - we're really moving up in the world!!

The second picture is just a random picture of some of our boys having a great day a couple of weeks ago. They are, from left to right, William, Emma, Johnson, Amos, John, Peter and David.
We have an architect coming tomorrow to look at the property so he can draw a site plan for us - the next step in getting ready to build our first building (a home for our kids). We met with him for a couple of hours last week and he has agreed to take on the job...has some great ideas for us. It's exciting to have this all coming together. Thanks to so many of you for your regular monthly support and your special gifts above and beyond that to fund the land acquisition and building phase. God is using all of us to touch the people of Budaka in so many ways: helping orphans, having a Bible-believing church, offering jobs to many who were without, and many other things. Thanks for your participation!

Once again last night we could not have a movie night - no electricity. It came back on about 8pm (after being out since 9am), but that is bed time for them. Maybe they will get to do it next week!

Would you please be in prayer for Rogers as I leave to go to the States? He will have the whole ministry on his shoulders (at least here on the ground), and I am praying and encouraging him to be sure he gets some rest time...and delegates some stuff to others.

Sure love you all, and am SO excited to get to see you. By next week at this time, I should be putting together my schedule for the time in the States and will get to all of you about when I can come and see you (if you're not in Hillsboro - those in Hillsboro, I hope to see you at the ECC services Saturday and Sunday next weekend). BTW - Rogers will be emailing pictures, so I will share them with you still each week...although at least 11 hours later than now.
See you in a very short time!

Laurie

Nov 9th Update

It’s a very rainy day in Mbale…so rainy I had to wait in the car for 15 minutes before coming into the internet café – the rivers of water running down the street would have come above my ankles! There is no drainage system here for extra water. (On the positive side, though, we will be including in our buildings rain gutters that all run to a large storage tank. During the rainy season, this will cut down on water that must be purchased.)

On Saturday morning, I heard there were 20 children already there for Saturday School 8am (2 hours before we start). I went down at 9:30, and as you can see from the first picture (which has about 1/2 of the kids who were there), there were more than 100 children there at 9:30, ½ hour before we started. We ended up with a little more than 260 kids and 15 adults and teens who helped us. I told the story of David and oliath and memorized 1 John 4:4 – “…greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world.” For a snack this month at Saturday School we had ice cream. (There are no freezers in Budaka, so we paid our regular taxi driver to pick up the ice cream from Mbale and drive it to us.) Our kids from the orphanage heard “ice cream” and started cheering and telling the other children how wonderful and exciting ice cream is. When the kids received their cup, they had 2 reactions: 1) they were scared to hold something SO cold and 2) they wanted to save it and take it home with them so they could share it. It was very hard to convince them to eat
it quickly. In the second picture, you see our Moses with his face covered in the stuff! This is his 4th time to have ice cream, and he really likes it!

The kids are doing well. Their school is almost over for the year – their last day will be December 3rd. We really saw how great they are doing with their English when the World Race team was here. Almost all of the children could communicate with the Americans. The English they speak here is British, so most people have a hard time with us Americans who talk “so fast.” But, our kids understood totally after having communicated with me and with Dina when she was here in March. Only 2 who have medical issues today: Emma (the only thing we know is that he does not have malaria) and Moses (breathing problems again – the TB doctor has not been able to see him the past 2 weeks). Please continue to pray for these 2. Thank you.

Thank you all for your generous gifts to the ministry. Because of your sacrifice, these children are being loved, fed and cared for; several adults in Budaka have jobs; and many are being touched by the love and life of Jesus. We are almost 1 year into this work in Budaka and all of you are very much the reason we are “getting on well,” as they say here. As you know, the ministry will be self-supporting by January of 2012. We receive our first batch of chicks next Tuesday and will be selling eggs within 5-6 months. We also are renting land on which we will grow some of our own food, thus saving money. The land is getting dug up now, then we will plant in January or February. (There are 4 growing seasons here, but we just missed the current one.) We also have a woman going to tailoring school who will use the sewing machine which was bought by Chuck and Anne and either pay rent on the machine or give us a percentage of her work (we haven’t worked on that part with her yet). It’s exciting to be at this point in the ministry – many things are up in the air still, but so many good things are happening and we are seeing God move miraculously in so many ways.
Thank you for your continued monthly support so that we can become self-supporing in just a little over a year! And thanks again to all who gave (and continue to give) towards the land and buildings.
May the Lord continue to bless you as you are blessing us! See at least some of you in a very short time!!

Laurie

Nov 1st Update

My dear friends:

Last night we had all the kids come over to the house to watch a movie - what a hit! Most of these kids have never seen a television set, let alone watched a kids' movie. We showed a Tom and Jerry cartoon (really old...no words...the kids LOVED it!) and then Bugs' Life. They thought it was so funny that bugs in America can talk! The electricity went off 2 times during the movie, and the 2nd time was too close to their bed time, so they still have about 20 more minutes of it to watch next week. I also had some candy corn that Abby had sent and told them there was a "holiday" in America called Halloween and it was on Sunday this year and we had candy corn on that day. So, they also got 2 pieces each of candy corn. They are SO impressed with America!
The first picture is of our kids having art lessons from the World Race team. There were 2 artists on the team (a request of ours before they came), and they had 1-hour lessons with the children on about 10 of the days. It was the first time for all the children to hold a paintbrush and attempt something like this. Thanks to Jullane for sending us all the supplies! The children were excited and very enthusiastic about painting. I do have to say that Charity's collar is now red instead of white, but that is to be expected...
The second picture  I have sent is of our kids when they went out with the World Race team to pick up trash in Budaka. They went 4 days in a row in small groups with the Americans and picked up trash in various places in Budaka. They enjoyed the first 2 days a lot, and then just enjoyed so much being with the American team, but not so much the picking up trash part  - just like kids everywhere, eh?
Yesterday we had new and bigger rooms for church - we have rented an additional room that is larger. so, the children are split into 2 classes and the adults have enough space to dance (a necessary part of worship here!). Also, the new room for the adults has 2 ceiling fans...almost like Heaven for some of us! We had 81 adults and 69 children - first time in awhile we have had more adults than children!
Please pray for Saturday School this week - it is Saturday morning from 10am-12pm. 
Great news for us: running water has returned to Budaka after 7 months! So, now, in the morning we go out back and fill 9 jerry cans (about 5 gallons each) and then it is over for the day. It's so great!!
I hope you all are doing well - all our children and staff are healthy today (not often we can say everyone is healthy). Teacher David has had typhoid, but is finally feeling better today. Thank you all for praying for us. I will write more next week...or perhaps Friday if I get to an internet café.
Your gifts and contributions continue to make a difference in the lives of children and adults in Budaka. May the Lord bless you for your faithfulness.
Laurie

Oct 25th Update

Greetings, Friends!
It's turned out to be quite a cool day in Budaka...and now Mbale while I am here. The World Race Team that is with us were all in jackets this morning! Rogers said he is afraid his skin will lighten with all the cool weather lately. For me, I just figure the Lord is getting me acclimated to being in Oregon in a few weeks :-).
I have included a very short video of Charles, one of our twins. I am videoing each child so you can see them and know them. But, I can only send very short videos through email. More on how you can see the rest later in this email.

I have also included a picture taken from the front porch of our house on Tuesday. We had a rain storm that was amazing in intensity. We had about 7 inches of rain in an hour. The pictures is what was the road in front of our house. It became a river, flowing across and down. Rogers said it is the most rain he has ever seen at once in his lifetime. It was awesome...and, I'll admit, a bit scary as I was the only adult home and wasn't quite sure what I would do if it continued. The water was about an inch from going over the back step and into the back door.
We have tried to get some rest this week as the week before was quite taxing (from the crusades). I got away for 2 nights and it was a blessed rest - thanks to BAMM! Thanks, BAMMers.
The kids are doing well. Moses is totally well now from the TB, and smiles and laughs frequently. Saturday he was doing the Hokey Pokey with us...well, in Auntie Rachel's arms. We bought him a pair of shoes last week...his first. He is so happy in those shoes - and it really helps him to be able to stand. His feet are quite small.
The World Race Team took the kids each day last week around Budaka and cleaned up garbage in their path. It was wonderful for the children (in small groups with 2 Muzungu - white people) and the town got cleaned up, at least a bit. This week the WRT is taking each child out individually to go have a soda at the Inn. They will be so excited - we are leaving it a surprise...if you want to read some of their experiences here, go to www.theworldrace.org and put in one of these names (Anna Matthews, Chad Riley, Tyler Samuelson, Mary Hollis, Kirsten George, Lili Mejia, and Kris Tippett) in the Search window. You will be able to read the blogs and see their pictures from here. It is great to see from their perspective what is happening here.
Last week I promised to tell you more about the purchase of land. Rogers talked with the owners in the midst of the week of crusades and they wanted the transaction to happen on Saturday. Everything is done in cash here in the villages - I think they accept checks in Kampala, but not here. People don't trust it unless it is cash. So, we had to go to Mbale (no banks in Budaka) and withdraw Shs30,000,000=/. The largest bill you can get here is a Shs50,000=/ note. For all you non-mathematicians, that means we had 600 pieces of currency. We took a backpack to put them in. I felt SO vulnerable till we got back to the safety of our house in Budaka! The average income in Uganda is about Shs1,000,000=/ per year. So, this money represents 30 years of income - a tidy sum for anyone who wanted to rob us!
When we got back, Rogers went and met with the owners, along with 4 witnesses, the Local Council chairman, and they talked, wrote a contract (on notebook paper), all signed it and Cornerstone owns 1 1/2 acres of land! Last week, then, we had a surveyor come and set the exact landmarkers, the first step in getting a land title from the govt. After that, we will have a professional draw a site plan for us and we will begin constructing the children's homes.
Thanks so much for those of you who have taken the $1,000 challenge - that is how we are able to buy and begin the building process! May the Lord continue to bless you as you have blessed these children, the staff, and me! God is at work...and the best is yet to come! (For those who have taken the challenge, but have not yet sent in the $, please feel free to continue sending it in via Evergreen Christian Center, 4400 NW Glencoe Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97124.)
Also wanted to thank all of you who give monthly to the continuing work of feeding, housing and clothing the children. The gifts you send each month are meeting our needs. Thank you for responding to the Lord. The children's well being is a testament to what a fairly small group of people can do for those in great need in Uganda. THANK YOU!
I would love to get to be with each of you when I come home. As some of you know, I will be coming home the week before Thanksgiving and staying until the end of March due to the political situation here - can explain more when I am there. I am planing to be in Oregon, Washington, California, and hope to also get to Texas and Idaho during my time. Please let me know when would be a good time to visit and I will try to accommodate you. There is so much to share that can't be said in an email each week.
In the meantime, while I am there, Rogers will continue to run the whole Cornerstone operation with just a couple of phone calls a week from me to encourage, support and give supplemental direction as needed.

Looks like the video is not attaching - sorry about that. Will have it with me when I come home.
Love you all! thanks again for your participation in the Gospel here in Uganda.

Laurie

Oct 18th Update

If all goes as planned, this will come to you as the Monday update...not Tuesday, Thursday, or whenever!
The first picture I am sending is all our boys (including Moses, in Rogers' arms) in their new outfits, compliments of a dear sister in Hillsboro who made all the shorts and bought matching t-shirts for them. The boys were SO excited to get new clothes! And from "Mama Ann" in America. Thank you, Ann! They all wore their new clothes to church on Sunday. The girls were sad, even though we reminded them that they got new dresses from Mama Ann a couple of months ago and the boys didn't get anything. Children are the same the world over, eh?

The second picture is of Hope, Rogers and Betty's daughter, who is 8 months old. She is eating a mango - as you can probably tell, she loves them! She didn't eat the whole thing (after all, she is only 8 months old!), but she was really enjoying it. She also has just learned to wave, so as I took several pictures of the mango and her, she thought she should wave to me, I guess. Consider it a wave from Uganda to you!
Final report from the 5-day crusade: it was tremendously blessed by the Lord! We had over 2,000 in attendance over the week, almost 300 people were saved either in door-to-door evangelism during the day or at the crusades, and many were healed (sorry, didn't keep the #s). Yesterday at church, a woman got up to share that she was healed on Friday night. I know there are many stories like that that we will only hear in Heaven. Thanks to all of you who have been praying and who have supported the ministry so that we could do this crusade. A couple of stories:

• the top witch doctor in Kaderuna was saved at that crusade. This is a tremendous miracle as his livelihood is from being a witch doctor...all of his life has been wrapped up in putting curses on people, bewitching people and giving out charms for "protection." Please pray for him as God begins changing his life and he becomes a significant member of the Kingdom of God!
• a Muslim man was instantly healed of chronic back pain and then gave his life to the Lord. He got up and testified at the end of the crusade. He wanted to tell everyone that God heals and loves them.

We had much opposition from the enemy, as you might guess. On 2 different evenings, we were told we couldn't stand up and speak in that area. We had 2 churches in 2 different villages stand up to us and tell us we were not allowed to preach that evening. One of them even tore down our stage and it had to be rebuilt with only about an hour to go before the service was to start. One church even got on the local radio and warned people not to come to the crusade. That night we had 600 people! This is the rainy season in eastern Uganda and people had told us not to have a crusade this week, but I am happy to report that we had a short, light sprinkle one night and then one heavy downpour on Friday night for about 10 minutes, then all was fine...and everyone stayed and listened anyway. The usual 2-3 hour heavy rains came only right after we got in from door-to-door or after we were done in the evenings. God was definitely in control!
On one of the nights, 68 people got saved. It was so overwhelming! One woman got saved that night, then fell under the power of the Holy Spirit. Everyone was fairly quiet at the time, and the thud was really loud. She is fine, but was so touched with the life of God.We had a great day yesterday at church rejoicing about what God has done. I hope that all of you will also rejoice as you have most definitely been a part of this by praying, giving and encouraging us. Thank you for your participating in the Gospel.
Okay, this has become another long email. Sorry - I really do try to be shorter, but there is so much.
I love you all and am excited to be back in the States and see you face to face in little over a month. Well, some of you I won't get to see face to face...or you never know, maybe I will :-).
Oh, yes, one last thing - perhaps I will write more about it next week - we bought land on Saturday!!! We bought 4 plots, which is about 1 1/2 acres to begin with. It's near the main road in Budaka and...okay, gotta go, but will tell you more about it later. Thanks again to all of you who have taken the $1,000 challenge. You have made this purchase possible! Any of the rest of you who still want to take the challenge, please feel free as now we want to begin construction of 2 orphanage houses - one for girls and one for boys.
Love you so much!!
Laurie

Oct 15th Update

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Good afternoon, Everyone!
Sorry the email is late this week, but I will explain.

First, though, as Abby wrote to you, we had a Saturday School this past Saturday to which we invite unsaved children from Budaka. We have had right around 200 at the first 2 of these (they happen once a month). This time we had 290 kids come. The picture shows about 1/3 of the kids that were there. It was overwhelming on many levels. We actually had bought enough snacks for 300, so that was okay. But so many of these kids have responsibility for their baby and toddler-aged siblings, so they bring them. We had probably 15-20 very young children. One urinated up in the front just as we were beginning. Then an older boy got sick and threw up right at the climax of the story about the loaves and fishes. Not very appetizing. He also was right up front. The other kids didn't care - just wanted me to complete the story! But, we got it cleaned up and went on to finish the story and the time. One great thing is that over 1/2 of them remembered the verse we memorized last month. Always makes me happy!

In the picture, you can see a part of the World Race Team preparing the cookies and juice to be given to the kids at the end of Saturday School. As you look at the picture, please remember to pray for these children. God is touching their hearts with His love and goodness.

2nd thing I wanted to share is that we are just past 1/2 way through a 5-day crusade in Budaka and 3 villages around, so I was not able to get to Mbale to send you an email on Monday. But, both Rogers and I wanted to get to Mbale today and at least get a short note out to you. I have attached one picture from the crusade that happened in Kabuna, Rogers' home village. The picture is of the stage that they built for the crusade. Those are the stairs to get up to it. It takes faith just to get up to preach!!

The great news from the crusades is on the first night in Budaka, we had about 250 people and 45 got saved. The second night we were in Kabuna and we had approximately 350 people (in a small village!) and 58 were saved. Then, last night we were in Naboa and there were more than 500 there and 68 people were saved. God has been amazing. (I have to find another word than amazing - I keep using it and it feels so small compared to what He is doing!!) I preached on Tuesday and Wednesday. Rogers will preach tonight in Kaderuna. We brought in speakers for Monday and Friday. We also have a Gospel singer that is well known singing each evening. I will let you know more on Monday about how everything goes. The World Race Team goes out each day with an interpreter and people from the village to share one-on-one in homes and shops of the area we will have the crusade at that night. So, when we get to the crusade, already there have been 10-20 people saved during the day. The total number saved so far is right at 200...in 3 days. Everyone keeps saying to us, "Budaka [the district, not just the town] has never had a crusade like this!" What they mean is that any crusade that has happened has been from one church wanting to increase its size. But this is Cornerstone getting all the churches involved in whatever area, and telling people to go to any church in the area. We know that some of those who got saved will be coming this week to Cornerstone, but we are literally unable to fit them in the room we have church in. So, we have just decided to put chairs outside in the courtyard so there is a place for everyone to sit. Then, if necessary, in the weeks following, we will go to 2 services. Please pray for wisdom and help in pastoring these people!

One other quick thing - on the way here today there was a snake dead on the road - it looked to have been about 7' long! It was black and silver...a black mamba?? AAAAACCCCKKKK!
OK, I will be all right. I'm settled back down.

Love you all, and will talk with you again on Monday.
Thank you so much for praying!!

God bless you.
Laurie

Oct 12th Update

Hello everyone!
My name is Abby and I am Laurie Dickerson's daughter. As Laurie wasn't
able to email an update on Cornerstone yesterday, she asked me to send
an email letting you know everything is alright and that she will be sending
the normal email next Monday, October 18th. A couple things she wanted
you to know:

-This past weekend, Cornerstone hosted the monthly Saturday School
(open to the community around Budaka) and 290 children attended! It
was a great time and a team of Americans from the World Race (Laurie
will talk more about this missions team next week) was there to
participate and support the event. More details to come!
-The church had a total of 87 kids (plus 5 teachers) and 77 adults= 169
in attendance on Sunday! Church was wonderfully busy :)

Thank you for being a part of Cornerstone. And always feel free to reply to
my mom- she often tells me how she loves getting your emails!!
-Abby

Oct 4th update

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It's a great day in Mbale - well, actually it is a bit humid and hot, but it's not pouring rain or anything like that right now. It was a good weekend. I was away for a short break Friday night and then back Saturday afternoon. Church was full of the life of God yesterday.
I taught the new believers class (or, as Rogers calls it, the 1st service) on finances - how use them wisely, and Rogers taught in church ("2nd service"). We had 63 adults in adult church and 84 kids plus 2 teachers in kids' church. One teacher who came for the first time last week, brought 20 of his students with him so they could enjoy our Sunday School. We are the only church in town that has a separate time for kids during church. I admire our teachers, who took these 84 kids (that's a 1:42 ratio!) in a small room for 3 hours! They are heroes. And, everyone had a good time.
The first picture is of our kids when they got an ice cream party, thanks to the kids at ECC. They totally LOVED it - some have never had ice cream before. Some wanted to save it to eat later. Others, when I handed them their ice cream cup yelped and dropped it - they have never felt anything so cold and it scared them!
The 2nd picture is of a tree in Mbale. It looks like a cactus at the top, but the bottom looks like the trunk of any 'ol tree (sorry, all you arborists, for my ignorance!). I would like to know what it is - anyone know? Last time I sent a question like this, several of you knew and let me know. Thanks.
The World Race Team arrives today in about 2 hours. The children are really excited to have visitors...as are the staff, the church, and of course ME. Americans - wow, what will it be like to speak English quickly and have everyone understand?? To talk about Starbucks, Oregon, Foursquare...and have people know what I'm talking about. Ah, the joy...
This Saturday is Saturday School. Please pray that many children will come to hear the Good News of the Kingdom of God. And that I can find games to play that can be played by 200+ children ;-).
Sure love you all. Thank you for continuing to pray for us. God is working here...and right where you live. I pray for His kingdom to come in your life even as you read this. God bless you.
Laurie

Sept 27th Update

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Good afternoon! It's a VERY rainy Monday here in Mbale. The storm started about 30 minutes ago and there is already standing water outside. So far the internet is on. I'm crossing my fingers that this will work and you will get pictures even.
First, Moses is doing really well! His body is responding well to the medication and he looks lively again. As a matter of fact, on Thursday afternoon, I went over and spent a couple of hours with the kids singing and teaching them games. When I first got there, many of the children came running and yelling, "Pastor Laurie, you are welcome!" and throwing their arms around me. That's not unusual, but in the midst of it I heard this pleading groan from the veranda (the place the kids sit to eat). I looked up and there was Moses, with his hands raised towards me, pleading with his eyes for me to come and pay attention to him. Now, that IS unusual. It's the first time he has ever reached out to me and wanted to be a part of the kids' welcoming. It really touched my heart! I went and sat with him and talked, then he came and swayed while we sang and danced. What a great thing to see all the life returning to him! Thank you so much for praying. Our Father loves this little boy so much.
The first picture is from a "party" I went to yesterday with Betty and Rogers. The woman in the lavender gomes is Agnes, who has recently been saved and comes to everything we do now. Her relationship with Jesus is growing daily. The party was for her and was a kind of shower to help her. They have groups here called "one by one" which are promoted by the government to help people better themselves. There are 18 people in the group and for one of them each month, there is a party like this. That person invites all their friends, plus the people from their group. Everyone brings dishes or linens or money and gives them to the person. So, this was Agnes' party and she had invited Rogers, Betty and I. We were the "special guests," according to the invitation. That means we had to make a speech (Rogers did that...whew!) and I was asked to pray at the beginning of the function. Since the whole thing was in Luganda (the main language - of 40 - around Uganda), I didn't understand much. And because they didn't understand me, I prayed as I heard from the Lord. So, I prayed for all these people to get saved, etc.
The most interesting (negatively!) part of the party was it was to begin at 2:30pm. Rogers said we didn't have to go until about 4pm ("Pastor Laurie, these functions are on Uganda time, not American time."). We didn't leave the house until 4pm, so I was trying to hurry. After all, I was the special guest...or one of them. When we got there (about a mile from the house walking, of course), there were about 20 people there, and music was blaring, but Agnes still had 3 curlers in her hair and an old dress on. I wondered... Anyway, Rogers said he was going to walk on into town to do something and would be back. Betty and I sat there, me wondering and her sure of what was happening. Some people got up to dance to the music, and people slowly filtered in. Are you ready for this? The event actually did not start until 5:55! 3 hours and 25 minutes after it was scheduled to start and 1 1/2 hours after we arrived. The boy in the picture looked like I felt, although I tried to keep a cheerful appearance! The party was still going when we left as I had a phone appt and Rogers had a counseling appt. It was definitely a cultural experience!! Someday I will try to remember to tell you about the whole party - not really what we would call a party!
The second pictures is of some of the kids in Sunday School yesterday. The teachers were having them pray for each other and asked them to lay hands on each other to pray. Some of those in the picture are our Cornerstone kids and some are from the community. Here's your test: can you tell who are the kids from the orphanage?? Have you been studying their pictures? Write to me and tell me if you know who is who.
We have a team from World Race coming next week, and a Crusade in the Budaka area the next week. We are running hard to get everything done. Please be in prayer for us for the crusade that many will hear the Good News and respond to Jesus. We will be "crusading" in these villages and towns: Budaka (Mon/Fri), Kabuna (Tues), Kadaruna (Wed) and Naboa (Thurs). We are working with the pastors in those villages to help evangelize their villages. Our World Race team will be helping us in going door to door, and we will probably have at least some of them share their testimonies at the crusades.
May the Lord bless you today! Be full of His Spirit.
We all love and pray for you.
Laurie

Sept 22nd Update

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Maybe today?

I began on Monday, but got a call from the orphanage: Moses was very sick. So, I headed back to Budaka, picked him up and brought him back to Mbale to the hospital. All the way coming here, his breathing was labored. I kept praying as I thought he might die on the way. We got into the top specialist in this area for kids with tuberculosis (that's what our nurse thought was wrong), and after getting an xray, he confirmed that Moses does have TB. Now, 30 days of treatment and he will be better. Already he is looking (and breathing) better! I have included 2 pictures of Moses - one is the first day he was with us. The second was taken yesterday, Wednesday the 22nd. Sorry about the white on his face - I tried several pictures and this is the only one in which he is smiling, but you have to put up with the porridge on his face. Thanks to all of you who got the news and were praying for Moses. This little boy has one uphill battle after another with his health. Please continue praying - perhaps post his picture someplace where you will remember to pray for him.
The doctor was amazing - he was on his way home, but stopped and saw Moses in his office, sent us for an xray (about 3 blocks away), which had to be redone once and took us about 45 minutes total till we could take one back. The doctor was still sitting there, and had waited for us, seeing how sick Moses was. Praise the Lord!
So, Monday was shot for being able to send an email...for a good reason, of course!
Tuesday I headed back to Mbale and wrote the email only to have the internet go down as I was ready to send it. Wednesday is too busy a day to come to Mbale, so here I am on Thursday. Maybe the Lord is trying to say something - like only email on Thursdays??
I taught Sunday School this past Sunday - we had 60 kids in a room about 20'x20'...no chairs or tables, just mats on the floor. We played the Hokey Pokey (remember that old skating rink song??) in a double circle so we would all fit in the room. I got to tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. In the midst of it all, I had quite a bit of trouble with some of our children from Cornerstone. So, now we (the kids and Rogers and I) are on a new track of discipline. And I thought raising one was a lot of work :-). Anyway, one of the funny things that happened Sunday was I had made playdoh on Saturday. I have made it many many times in the States, but of course, this was a bit different. I cooked it over a charcoal stove - stirring is much different as it gets thick because the pan just slides off the stove. Also, you have to cook outside on the veranda. And, I had all the ingredients except Cream of Tartar and food coloring. So, I made it. It was great that night, kneading it until it was cool and then putting it in a baggie to take the next morning. When I got to Sunday School, there were 3 girls there who spoke no English, so I thought the playdoh might be a great way to build a relationship with them. I reached in the bag and took a hunk out, but to my surprise it was extremely sticky and my hands were coated. It would not form any shape. Apparently Cream of Tartar is necessary :-). Of course, there is no running water, so had to get a bucket of water to get the gunk off my hands. Ah, well. Those girls must have thought I was some weird American...Maybe they're right... Abby said she will send Cream of Tartar the next time she sends a package.
Sure love you all! Will try to catch up on answering all your emails today...sorry if it's not till Monday, but I'm sure you can understand.
Thank you for your continued financial and prayer support for what we are doing. God is great!

Laurie

Sept 16th Update

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My Friends:

The internet was working fine when I began on Monday, and then, when I hit the send button I noticed that the whole thing was down. So, here I am again in Mbale, writing to you. So sorry you missed your Monday morning Uganda news :-). Here's what I wrote (so glad I copied and saved it!!):


Greetings from wet Uganda. I don't think this is really a hot part of the world! I was so cold last night, I even used a blanket (but then I got too hot and turned on my fan - HA!).
Beginning with yesterday:
We had 70 children and 69 adults at church and we had our first guest speaker, Pastor Stephen. For those of you who came over last year to Kiwangala on the team, you met Pastor Stephen. He was the one who fixed the drain when we poured porridge down it :-). He is from Masaka and is pastor of a church in one of the villages near Kiwangala. He is also a builder, so today Rogers and I met with him to talk about the potentials of building the new orphanage and school. It was a good time of fellowship and work. He will call us in a couple of days to let us know what to expect cost-wise with the buildings.
The 1st picture is of our staff (minus Teacher Loy) with their new t-shirts on that the kids at ECC made for them. Thanks, all you wonderful kids! The kids also wrote letters to each of the staff members, and a letter, a picture and a name sign for each child. Everyone was so jazzed!
The 2nd picture (f it comes through...difficulty again today with the internet - sound familiar yet?) is of Teachers Loy (left) and Dennis (right) teaching Sunday School. They have from 1 year olds through 14 years old together in a way-too-small room, but the only other place we can have anyone. Hopefully we will build the large hall for the school near the beginning and be able to meet there with adults, with kids in classrooms of the school. I have a meeting with our 12 Sunday School volunteers next Sunday to talk about how the past 6 weeks went and what we can do. Oh, did I tell you that there are 2 outlets in the room that have live wires sticking out...so we have to sit the children in strategic places so they won't get fried while we talk about Jesus. So far, so good.
Last Wednesday we had a meeting with pastors from the villages where we will be holding crusades in October. We treated them to lunch and told them the plans we felt the Lord had given and that Cornerstone was here to serve them. They were so touched and excited and said they have been waiting for this - that the Kingdom of God should be being built instead of each pastor's personal kingdom. Amen! It will be great to work with them.
On Tuesday, a woman from the church asked us to come pray for her daughter. We went and prayed, but also found that she had prepared lunch for us. We politely (I guess...I don't understand Lugwele!) told her that we could not stay, but culturally we needed to. She had prepared meat and rice and had a soda for both of us (Rogers and I). This represents a week's pay for this woman. Rogers instructed me (as had Abby before I came) to just eat some and leave the rest (including the soda) and the children and adults would eat what was left when we were gone. I can't tell you how humbling this is...and how much I wanted to refuse and give them back their food. But, again, culturally that would have been so bad! Instead, we later made sure she got some $ surreptitiously (look that one up, BAMMers!).
Okay, looks like pictures are not going to come. Just imagine those teachers and staff. LOL!
We have secured a house to begin our poultry farming. More about that next week...maybe even a picture, it all is working!

Thank you all for reading and writing back. So fun to communicate with you.
Our deep thanks to all of you who give monthly to meet the costs of Cornerstone Uganda Ministries. You touch our hearts with your generosity.
Thanks to you challenge-takers. Each $1,000 that comes in is another set of bricks and mortar for the buildings...or a piece of land...or some beams...or bags of cement. THANK YOU!
See you all (hopefully - depends on where you live!) in a couple of months!
God bless you.
Laurie

Sep 6th Update

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Greetings on the first Monday in September...oh, yes, you all call this Labor Day! Here it's another Monday. I rejoice with all of you who get a holiday, though! Have a good one. Hey, maybe since you have the day off, you will email me and let me know you're alive and you really read these emails :-)

Many things to share today...as always!

On Saturday, we had our 2nd Saturday School. You may remember that the first one, in August, drew 190 children from all around Budaka. This time there was a huge rain storm (my best guess was about 8" of rain) Friday night I said to Rogers, "I don't think anyone is going to show up but our kids." He said he had been thinking the same thing, that after a storm like this parents expect their kids to "dig" the next morning because the soil is soft. We had bought enough for 400 kids, but all stuff we could use the next month. So, in the morning I walked over to the orphanage about 45 minutes before we were to begin and there were about 20 kids waiting for the start! I was greatly encouraged. We ended up having 201 kids...many more than we expected. I have included a picture of all of them playing Duck, Duck, Goose out on the lawn of Wilta Inn. They loved the game! It is a bit different to play D,D,G with 200 participants - it's a long way to run around!!
The other great thing that day - I shared the Gospel in a simple way (from the story of Nicodemus in John 3) and somewhere between 20-25 kids responded that they wanted to become Christians. Please pray with us that they get grounded in the church family and in God's Word. Just think, because you are praying and giving to this work, another 25 people have come to know Christ! Thanks for partnering with us.

Then on Sunday morning I got to church and there were already 26 kids there from Saturday - they were early and ready for Sunday School. We ended up having 73 kids yesterday for church and 53 adults. I have been developing teams to work with the kids and we currently have 6 teams of 2 people each who rotate every 6 weeks. The 2 who worked with them yesterday, Jennifer and Peace, had a great time and said they work next week if I wanted them to. Those of you who have taught Sunday School, imagine 73 kids, 2 workers and in a room that is about 20' x 20'. So much for having the optimum of 35 sq ft per child, and 1 teacher for every 7 children. Ha!

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At the end of church, a group of about 10 kids from Saturday School (and Sunday School) were hanging out when Rogers and I got ready to leave. As we walked out, they followed us. (Remember that we have a 3/4 mile walk home - no car here!) They kept walking right behind us as we talked about the service and the kids who had come, then one of the girls (about 10 years old) reached up and took my hand, then another and another took our hands till all 10 kids and Rogers and I were walking hand in hand back home. Rogers asked (none of them speak English except to say "Hello, how are you?") where they were from. They come from a village about 2 miles away. They walked to church and were on their way home, but wanted to walk with the pastors. They walked us to our house and then continued on their way home. It was really touching to me and we got to share much love with them.

There is so much else I want to share, but time is running short, so I will just give you the bare bones of the next couple of things.

1. The other picture is of a moth that was in my room the other day. Just thought it was beautiful and amazing with the geometric shapes on the wings.
2. We are having a crusade the 2nd week of October...2 days in Budaka and 3 in surrounding villages. Please pray that many will hear and respond to God's love for them.
3. We will be buying land within the next 2 weeks and are meeting with 2 builders next Monday to begin to develop plans for the land we are buying. Thanks to those of you who have taken up the $1,000 challenge. thanks to those of you who are continuing to pray that God gives us His grace to help more orphans and the people of Budaka. 
4. We have a team from World Race coming in October. There are 7 people staying with us for almost a month. They will be helping with the crusade (door to door evangelism, being at the crusade services, etc.), working with the kids (in art and music and many other things), helping clean up Budaka (picking up litter all around town), helping clear land (we are trusting we will be at that point when they are here), and everything else we can think of for them to do.
5. I will be coming home mid-November to mid-December with Rogers so together we can see schools, churches, orphanages, etc. and develop a bigger picture of what God can do here in Budaka. Please be in prayer about this time. If you know of one of these places which you think would be good for us to visit, please email and let me know as I will be putting together a schedule very soon for that time. We will be in Oregon, Washington and California (Bay Area). We would love to meet with as many of you as possible also who are available. First come first serve. 

So much to share and so little space! Hope you made it all the way through this email. I so appreciate your participating in the Gospel here in Budaka! We pray for you...and I know you are praying for us! May the Lord bless you today.

In His grace and mercy,
Laurie

Aug 30th Update

Greetings friends and family!

It's a great day here in Mbale. Only in the 80s and relatively low humidity (all this by how it feels, not by any statistics I have seen or know).

This Saturday is our 2nd Saturday School - an outreach to the children of Budaka. We have asked each person at the church to go to 10 homes of unchurched people and invite their children to come. We also have instructed them to tell the parents that the purpose of this 2 hours is NOT to take their children in as orphans, or to support their families. Apparently at the end last time, parents came to Rogers and asked how they sign up to get ongoing help from Cornerstone! Please pray with us that the children who come will be touched by the life of God and our love for them.This month we will be talking about salvation...God's love and provision for their lives forever. 

Some great things that have been happening:

• 3 weeks ago we went and rescued Rogers' sister from her abusive husband who had beat her up quite badly the night before. She left her kids with their grandparents (a picture of the "compound" on which she and her children lived is the first picture today) ***missing picture... will add soon***. She lived with us for a week or so, then went to Kabuna, the village she and Rogers are from, to live with her dad and his wife. She has been back by the house a couple of times and yesterday showed up for church. She was there from the very beginning when we have a New Believers' class teaching the basics of the Christian walk. I taught about sin, forgiveness and salvation yesterday and simply laid out how to get saved. At the end of church, Rogers introduced her (she was a visitor, and they always introduce visitors) and she stood up, told her name and said "I am here because I want to be born again." So, I got to pray with her at the end of church and now she is both Rogers' sister in the flesh...and his sister in the Lord! It was a great time! She is so excited. As I prayed with her, I felt the Lord say to me, "One of the reasons I brought you to Budaka is for Rebecca to come to know Me." What a wonderful God we serve. Rogers is beside himself!
• Our businessman, John, who we hired at the beginning of August, has done lots of research now on the various businesses we can start, what kind of return we can get on them, etc. These are things we are looking at: a piggery, raising chickens, a restaurant, a bakery, tailoring, the kids' crafts (more about that in a minute), and there are 2-3 more that I can't remember right now. Anyway, we are very excited about all this and will assess within the next week which one(s) to begin. John will be in charge of them for the present time until they generate enough income to support another worker. Please pray for us as we launch this (FINALLY!). It's been more difficult to begin than we assumed, but we are undaunted...

The 2nd picture ***missing picture... will add soon*** is of a monkey (I'm sure one of you knows the actual species, and will send me the name of it!) we saw in Jinja last week. We saw several of them crossing the road, and then this one close enough that I could get a picture of it. Actually, it is the first "wild" animal I have seen since being here (if you don't count the poisonous snake!). Just thought you'd like to see a little more of my world. I think I will send a 2nd email with a picture of the most frustrating thing about going to the Source of the Nile river...

One sad thing - Johnson, one of our boys, did not come back from the 1-week visit with his family. We have called his uncle (who brought him), but have received no answer. It looks like he is not coming back. He is quite a whippersnapper and I will miss him a lot. Please continue to pray for him as the Lord wants to touch his life...even when he is not with us. Thanks! Pray for all of us (kids, staff and Rogers and me) as all of us are having a difficult time with this. Thank you.
Okay, enough for today. Please have a blessed day...and thanks to all of you who support this work in Budaka through your prayers, monetary gifts and emails. I am so blessed, as are all the children and staff. It's a great partnership for all of you involved in helping with the acquisition of land and buildings - we are bringing in 2 builders to meet with us. They come in 2 weeks. One is the man who oversaw the building of the Lira school and orphanage we saw in March - amazing buildings! - and the other a builder from Kiwangala that Rogers knows and trusts (Pastor Stephen). It's quite exciting to be at this point. Thanks so much to each of you who have taken the $1,000 challenge. God is working with wonders.

Love you all!

Please remember to write...you are a lifeline for me many times.

Laurie
pastorld01@gmail.com

Frustration in Jinja

Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 5:52 AM

As promised, here is my frustration. Read the sign closely, at least the top 2 price lines. So that you don't end on a bad note, I have also included a picture of Hope (Rogers' and Betty's baby born in Feb) and I in Jinja.
Love you!
Laurie

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Aug 23rd Update

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As always, I have many more things to share than will fit in one email (at least one that you will read all the way through  ). But here are some highlights from this past week:

On Friday, we hired a taxi to take us to each of the children's homes. We took to each "family" 2 loaves of bread (a great treat in Uganda which some of these families would not be able to have but once a year or so), 2 packets of tea and 2 kilos of sugar (another treat). In addition we took a small packet of cookies (called biscuits here) to our kids. It was wonderful and exhausting - we visited all 14 homes in about 9 hours. There was lots of walking (most don't live where we can drive in, so we would drive as close as possible and then walk into their homes). Most of the children ran towards us, very excited to see us. It was a merry time! A couple were more reticent to receive us, especially the younger ones who were getting reconnected to cousins and aunts and uncles. I have attached a picture of David's house. You can see 2 of his siblings. I took pictures at each child's house, but wanted you to see this house - it is about 10'x10' and the family is (as far as I could determine from that day) 8 people without David there. (David's mother made him go and bathe and get his "Cornerstone" clothes on before he could come and greet us.) They are probably the poorest of the families, but when we were getting ready to leave, she bowed and tried to give Rogers Shs1,000=/ (about 50 cents) as a gift for all that we have done for their family. Both of us were moved to tears and steadfastly refused her offer.
At other homes, we were given chickens (my first time to hold a live chicken) - 9 in all, g-nuts (about 50 kilos total) and a sack of oranges. People are very generous with their produce and livestock. We actually had to go home 1/2 way through just to make room in the car for more things!

The kids come back today after lunch - we're so excited to have them back, but know that some will be adjusting to being back with school and different rules than at home. We are praying for their adjustment - please pray with us.

The 2nd picture is Rogers' family (minus Betty, his wife, who had gotten car sick and was not standing with us) at Bujagali Falls on the Nile River where we went for a family day on Thursday. They are, from the left, Enoch (13), me, Prossy (15), Rogers, Samantha (8), Prosper (5), Mary (18 - half hidden behind Rogers), Hope (6 months) and Peace (15). The 3 older girls are relatives that Rogers and Betty have taken in and are raising and schooling. We had a wonderful day together (aside from Betty and Peace getting car sick) and taught the children much about the geography of Uganda, the Nile River and many things about the villages, tribes and languages we encountered along the way there. We were about 100km from Budaka in Jinja where the source of the Nile is.

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I accidentally sent off the email without finishing it...thanks to the Uganda banking system. I realize that doesn't make sense, but if you were in Uganda, you would understand. Another long story (about 3 months long!) that is not worth the words to tell you. Suffice it to say I was angry and hit the wrong button...to send instead of to save.

So, the rest of the stories from this week:

There is a woman at church (everyone calls her "the old woman") who every week asks for prayer, as well as things like sugar, windows for her house, clothing, medicine, etc. (Dina, you will remember her!) This Sunday, after praying for her, she called Rogers and I over and presented a gift to me. I was blown away - she has very little money and is always asking for things. She had wrapped it in some kind of gift wrap (with no tape) and told me, through Rogers' translation, that she had bought this for me and knew that I would know what to do with it. She said I could do whatever the Lord asked me to with it. I was touched that someone with so little wanted to give from her little bit (remind you of any Bible stories?). The gift was a black and gold blouse - in this culture a very beautiful ("smart") item. My heart was and is touched by her generosity.

There was a new woman yesterday at church. She sat next to me. She came in quite late and was crawling up the 3 stairs into the church. Her legs are twisted and she is unable to use her feet. She drags them behind wherever she goes. She is from Kabuna, a village about 5km (3 miles) from Budaka. She got up yesterday to come to church and crawled all the way. She is a Christian and is having some family problems and heard that there were people at Cornerstone that would pray for her family. We did pray for her. Rogers asked if I had some money so we could pay her transport back to the village so she did not have to crawl, and of course that is exactly what we did. She really touched my heart also.

We had 62 adults and 39 kids yesterday - our kids were still gone to their home villages. We now have the children begin the service in their own room as there is not enough room in the "sanctuary" for all of us to sit. They enjoy it much more :-).

Okay, now I have finished, but I also attached a picture of a beautiful flower I saw as we were coming to Oliver's house. Rogers told me the plant also has a kind of berry on it that he ate as a child. I just loved the colors and shape of this. Anyone know the name of it?

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Okay, sorry again about sending 2 emails, but at least you got an extra picture!
Love you all - thanks to all of you who are continuing to support Cornerstone on a monthly basis. You are making the difference between life and death for these kids...and the people of Budaka. Thank you! And, thanks to all of you who have taken up the $1,000 challenge and have let me know what you are doing. We are greatly encouraged and will be purchasing land soon.

God bless you!

Laurie