Mar 22nd Update

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Greetings, my friends in America!
I hope all is well with you and your families. We are doing well here in Uganda. Actually, I'm doing great today - it is raining and the temperature is way down in the 70s! My kind of weather...The Ugandans are freezing, of course. You will see from the picture I sent that the children wear sweaters - we had them made a couple of weeks ago - something like $100 for 22 sweaters to be hand knit. Anyway, the kids can wear them when it is "cold."
If you are at BAMM, ECC or Vancouver Friends, your church has received, or will soon receive, a video from Rogers and I telling you how things are going here. Also, Dina Poulin has been here for the past 2 weeks and has just returned to the States. She has many many pictures. I also sent pictures with her to Abby, who can send you some if you would like.
I sent some Ugandan batiks home with Dina and they will be framed (thanks, Toni!) and then be available for sale through ECC. This is one of the revenue streams we are trying out. Contact the church office there in Hillsboro if you are interested and not at that church. These are not made by the kids - we'll be able to teach the children some traditional crafts like mat and basket weaving soon, but not yet - but by Ugandan artists. They are Ugandan life scenes. I sent several different color schemes - hope something fits for you!
Thanks to all of you who sent a return email last week - it's so good to hear from you and to know at least some of what is happening in your lives.
I spoke at church yesterday about working in the Kingdom of God and asked people to come forward in response - it was touching to see 10 people come forward to recommit themselves to working with the King in His kingdom. We had 66 people yesterday - we've just about maxed out our room we rented. We'll see what is next...Easter is in 2 weeks, and we are praying for many unsaved to come and hear the Gospel.
The kids are doing great - sicknesses here and there...pink eye was running through them last week - but overall everyone is doing well. The kids are becoming very much like a family, fights and all :-). Good thing I've had a little experience working with kids...
We are buying a sewing machine (thanks to a family from ECC) soon and will begin either teaching some of the older children to sew, or renting the machine as another revenue stream. I'll let you know as we go.
We are looking at propane ovens this week to see the feasibility of buying and using one to begin making breads, etc., that we could sell in Budaka. I am excited that we might have some good bread - they only have 1 kind here - no taste. We would hire someone to go and sell the bread to homes (huts) and businesses and see if people want something new. BTW, we can't advertise in a traditional way as there is a 60-75% illiteracy rate in Budaka.
We were able to buy a speaker and microphones for the church this past weekend and so the Word is going out in a louder way. It is one of the only ways to "advertise" the church to people around. Young people in Uganda (up through their 30s) are drawn to music and sound systems...who knew? Several came yesterday to see what was up. Thanks to Dina who convinced me this was a good purchase. My ears will never be the same :-)
Thanks to all of you who are praying, giving, sending emails and/or calling. I feel your support here and praise the Lord that we are in this together. God bless you.
Laurie

Mar 15th Update

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Hello, Everyone!
It's already warm here this morning (it's 10:45 am on Monday). We haven't had rain for several days, so it's gotten very hot again in Budaka. Last night at 10pm, it was 82 degrees in my room. I keep praying for rain, but apparently someone is praying harder on the other side :-).
Here are some things that are happening:

• Dina Poulin and I made American pancakes for the kids for breakfast last week. You have to imagine, though, the conditions first. We have a large pan (about 4' in diameter and about 12" deep) which is put over a big fire. I put some oil in the pan (it's not non-stick, of course) and the pan was too hot and the oil caught fire. The Ugandan cooks looked at us like we were crazy - I guess we were... Then, think about standing over a fire with smoke filling the area - your eyes and lungs are full of it as you try to turn pancakes with a round implement with holes in it - there is nothing like a pancake spatula here. Then we did not put enough oil in the next time, so the pancakes stuck to the pan. Finally we got everything going well and began mass producing them - we could do about 6 at a time. I had bought syrup at the American store in Kampala and I think maybe the reason the kids liked them is they were sweet - they don't have much that is sweet here. The cooks ended up liking the pancakes, but seemed glad when we finished and got out of their "kitchen."
• We had to cut the fence around the outside of the orphanage about 4” up as the termites were eating it. Now they can’t get to it. The posts have been treated and the termites can’t reach the other parts. Termites are bad here - before we even moved into this place, the termites had eaten about 2 inches of my inside office door. Sometime I will send a picture so you can see.
• We now have a supplier of all foods for the orphanage – he comes each day, as necessary, to deliver food. He brought 50 kilogram bags of rice, sugar, posho, millet flour, beans – things we use regularly. So now our food costs will be under control.
• I looked at the original picture of our children that we took when they came for interviews with their guardians. WOW! They have changed so much. Their skin looks great, their faces are cheerful and full of life. They have meat on their bones. It is so wonderful to see the change in only 4 weeks. As we pray for them each night in their beds, I am struck with the Lord’s words over each about what He will do in their lives…and what He is doing presently in their lives. I shared at evening devotions with them last week about spending time with Jesus (taught from the story of Mary and Martha) and encouraged them to that very night begin talking and listening to Him. There are 5 rooms – 3 for boys and 2 for girls. As we went into one of the rooms, the boys were in their beds praying already. Ben, our oldest boy, was on his knees up in his upper bunk, intently talking to the Lord. It warmed my heart so much!
• I am sending updated pictures of the kids back with Dina and they should be on the website soon, so be sure to go there to check them out. It is www.cornerstoneministriesuganda.org.
• I have sent you a picture of Rogers and some of his family at his daughter, Samantha's visitation day. She is in boarding school and you can only visit once a term, so this was the day. The older girl is a friend of theirs and is not part of the family. The young boy is Prosper - he is 4 years old. Rogers' wife, Betty is on the right holding their new baby, Hope. Samantha is in the uniform sort of in the middle. And, of course, I'm the white one. It looks like I was photoshopped into the picture...

Love hearing from you! Thanks for praying for us and giving as the Lord leads.

Talk to you again next week!

Laurie

Mar 8th Update

Well, you all are sleeping right now, but it's 12:30 in the afternoon here. Here are some things that are happening here in Uganda:

• We are about 60 miles from the mudslides, so they have not personally affected us. However, we are collecting clothing for those who lived through the mudslide as they lost everything. (We're not collecting clothes from the States - takes too long to get here)
• Today, we were coming here to Mbale and the taxi we were riding in (think mini-van with 17-25 people, live chickens, etc) apparently does not have windshield wipers. It was raining quite hard. Anyway, the driver stopped in a little village, bought a small packet of laundry detergent and took a handful and threw it on the windshield and continued. Apparently that helps to clear the window a bit.
• Yesterday, we were driving to Mbale and there was a group of people on the side of the road. Rogers told me this is a tribe here in Uganda who do circumcision on boys and men as a proof that they are tough. They find a man and circumcise him in front of a group of people and he cannot cry out in pain. It was right out there in front of us -- well, we didn't see the man, just the crowd around him. This is apparently only done in certain seasons of the year. Youch!
• We finally have our 20 children. We got the last 2 last Monday, a set of twins, William and Stephen. They are adjusting to the large group of kids and seem to be happy. We have 2 sets of twins, all are boys.
• The children are so happy - yesterday in Sunday School, I asked them to share something they are thankful to God for. The first boy raised his hand said he had never had a chapati before and now he has. Chapati is a kind of food sort of like a tortilla only with more flavor. They make a sell them here for about 50 cents, but these children were from homes where that much money is beyond any parent to buy.
• We had our first firing of an employee last week. Turns out she was skimming things, taking them outside and reselling them: pieces of soap, small containers of cooking oil, the kids' shoes, fruit, etc. She was defiant to the end, but we are praying that she will see the error of her ways. Her thought is this is money from America and there is much more where it came from. Sad...and hard for the kids. Now we have a new "mom" who is doing great...and we have a storeroom now which is locked and they have to ask for each thing. Ah, the joy of being an employer...
• Please keep us in prayer as we do planning for the coming year. Now that the children are settled, we are beginning to work on our business projects, plans for what to teach at church, what community classes to begin and how to begin working toward opening a school in January 2011. The Ugandan govt. requires that we own our own land for the school, so please pray that we find God's way through this hurdle.
• We have had much opposition from the religious community, but the Lord has spoken to us to "make every effort" to be united with them. We are looking for ways to bless them.
• Dina Poulin is here right now - she came on Friday. It is wonderful to have another person who thinks similarly! The children adore her, as she does them. She will be teaching workshops for our staff this week and next. Dennis - thanks for letting us have her for 2 weeks.
• Sorry there are no pictures today - I forgot my computer back in Budaka. I will get a picture to you next week...and Dina will be bringing back lots!

I would love to hear from you. Some of you have been keeping me updated on your lives. It's great to hear - the rest of you, what's happening in your life?
Greetings from Budaka (actually Mbale today).
Love you all!Laurie