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Sorry this is so late in the week - I was unable to go to Mbale on Monday, so today is the first time I could send off an email.
Things are going so well with our 4 new kids! Baby Moses, who came to us so sick he couldn't lift his hand to his mouth to eat is now eating with gusto! We bought a sippy cup for him, not wanting him to spill liquids down the front of him, but he refused to drink from it till the lid came off and he could drink the liquids much quicker - the poor boy is STARVING! We are so glad he is now expressing his will - I'm sure we will be wishing he wasn't so willful in awhile, but for now everyone is relieved he wants to eat!
The first picture is a part of the inside of the house that the kids lived in before they came. The "food" you see is the little bit they could beg people for.
The second picture is when Rogers first went inside and asked the kids if they wanted to come with us. That is Natasha on the left and Moses in his arms. The whole "house" is about 10 feet by 10 feet. Oh, and I wanted to tell you I remembered incorrectly last week when I wrote. The kids have been alone, with Natasha as "mom," for 2 months, not 3 weeks. It is so great that God had that reporter do a story so we could get there and rescue them from this plight. Thanks so much to all of you who have made it possible through your prayers and gifts.
At church last Sunday we had 51 adults. It just keeps growing. Rogers and I were talking today about the fact that we do not advertise at all - there is no sign or banner or anything telling about the church, but by word of mouth (and the loud speakers!), people keep stopping in. Also on Sunday, 3 women from the apartments next door came and received the Lord as their personal Savior. Praise God! One was back on Wednesday night. Her name is Agnes. Please pray for her (and the others) as the Lord leads you.
We met with John, also a new convert, last week and prayed with him. His wife and adult sons are angry that he got saved and are trying to get him to change his mind. Please pray for him to stand strong and for them to come to the Lord.
Our children are doing end-of-the -term testing right now. We're very excited to see how they are doing compared to other children in Uganda. We know they will not be as high as children who have been in school regularly, but know that they are doing so much better than when they started. When I go over to visit, the children are always coming and saying, "Pastor Laurie, I can spell (some word they have learned)." Then they proceed to spell it. It's wonderful to hear their English and to see their excitement for learning.
All the children will be going home to their relatives' homes for a week (except our new 4 who do not have a home to go to) beginning the 16th of August. Please pray for their preparation and that they would bring the good news about God and what He is doing in each of them. Pray for our staff, too, as they get a break for about 1/2 of a week each.
One of you emailed me last week to say she felt the Lord gave her an idea for raising funds for land and buildings here. I want to pass on her challenge to all of you. (She has asked that I not identify her in name, so I will honor that.) She felt the Lord ask her to challenge all of us to each raise or give $1,000 for this project. Perhaps you are to talk to friends and tell them what is happening her and ask them to give to this. Perhaps you have the money are are supposed to just choose to give it. I don't know how you will be moved by the Lord, but I do want to pass on her challenge. I told her Rogers and I would pray about her idea. Both of us felt it was from the Lord, and so I am passing it on to you. Would you listen to the Lord and ask what your part is? Are you to pick up this challenge? Pass it on to others? I'd love to hear what you are hearing about it (and anything else, of course!). We are waiting on the Lord for what He is doing about beginning the school in January. If we don't have the $ by about October, we will know this isn't the year to begin. We want to do His work in His way, and know that He will bring His resources for it.
Thanks so much for all you are doing for His work. You are His workers in Budaka...even though most of you will never even be here in person. You're amazing! God bless you.
Laurie
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This has been quite a week! 2 big things to share with you:
1 - the pictures you have this week are of 1st, 4 new orphans, all children from a family, sitting with Rogers on a bench at the orphanage. They are, from the left, Isaac (about 3), Moses (1 1/2), Vanessa (about 5) and Natasha (8). The 2nd picture is me holding Moses this morning. Now the story:
On Saturday, Rogers was reading the paper and read the story of these 4 children from Mbale whose mother had abandoned them. They all have different fathers and none of the fathers are known. Natasha (the 8-year-old) has been caring for the others for the past month since her mother left. The story said some neighbors help when they can and Natasha goes out begging for food all the rest of the time. When Rogers read the story, he came to me and said, "we have to do something for these children." I agreed and we headed out to Mbale (25 km from Budaka) in a matatu (mini-van taxi that fits 15-25 people) at 4 in the afternoon to try to find them. We first went to the police station that was mentioned in the article, and waited there for someone to take us to the Local Council (lowest level of government in Uganda...like a city council perhaps?) in charge of this area. We went to their "office" and the people there knew about the story, but sent us on to someone else who could help. One piece of information we got from there, though, was the mom had committed suicide right after leaving the kids.
We ended up going 6 different places over the space of 2 hours and not finding the kids. It was getting dark (and thus dangerous in Uganda!), so we headed home agreeing that on Monday we would continue our search, starting with the newspaper that had published the story. So, Monday morning we set out for Mbale (as we always do on Monday), but knowing before anything else, we would search for the kids. We had to go 2 places before finding the newspaper office. Then the reporter said he would not take us there until we had met with the police (at a different station than where we were Saturday night). So we went there and they sent us to another station. At that station, finally, we found someone who knew about the kids and was concerned for their welfare. She also told us they had a 1-day-old baby who needed a home - she had been thrown on a trash pile and left to die. We told her to bring the baby, but we didn't know. At the same time, a Ugandan pastor from Tororo (farther south and east from us) had shown up to take the kids - she had also read the story. We all talked, and she told us that she would take the newborn if we could take the 4 kids. That is exactly what we wanted to do and we all agreed. Then we headed off to find the children, holding the baby that the police just handed over to us.
It took about an hour for them to go and find the kids again and get us to them. Rogers asked Natasha if she wanted to go with us to a new home. She agreed readily and asked her sister and brother. Everyone wanted to go. We have pictures of us in their "home", but they were taken by Pastor Ruth's camera and we are waiting for her to send them. I will send them when I receive them. Their home defines the word "squalor." It was so sad that these children have been here for 4 weeks with no one helping.
The first thing we did was get them something to eat and take them to the doctor's. As I waited with the kids, Rogers went into town and bought clothing and shoes for them - theirs were falling apart and they had no shoes.
Moses (1 1/2 years) weighs only 6 kilos - about 13 pounds...he is skin and bones, except for a large tummy - definite sign of malnutrition! He was very frail and his breathing was quite labored. He hardly moved at all. I fed him some "cake", but he ate only a small handful and seemed to have difficulty chewing. The doctor cleared the other 3 with just some cough medicine and deworming medicine, but Moses we had to take for an xray and blood tests. He has acute pneumonia and is on a drip. We were able to take him home since we have a nurse working with us who can administer medications to him. They figure he was a week or less away from death. He has had 2 treatments as of this morning when we left and is already looking well. As a matter of fact, when she gave him one of the treatments (which burns when it goes in the drip), he screamed and cried. Yesterday there was barely a whimper from the same medication. Praise the Lord - he is looking so much better!! We bought formula for him and he was actually also feeding himself a boiled egg this morning.
Please pray for us as we adjust to 4 new children and as they adjust to all the children who are already part of Cornerstone. The children welcomed the new ones with open arms - it was great! Pray for Aunt Rachel as she has primary care over Moses and this is quite a stretch from our children who are already above the baby stage. She is excited about it, but of course all the normal work has to be done too, so she has a lot on her plate.
We are amazed at what God did in all this...and know it is His hand that led us to Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses. (BTW - Moses didn't have an English name when we got him. On the way home, Rogers and I talked about it as I held Moses on my lap -- no car seats or seat belts in Uganda -- and felt we should give him an English name that befitted him. Moses means "drawn from the water" and we both felt it was appropriate to his being taken out of "deep waters" in his circumstances.)
The other great story from the week: on Wednesday night, a woman and her 8-year-old daughter came to church. The daughter's head was covered with a cloth. When she removed the cloth, I saw why. The girl looked like she had terrible burns all over her face, head and neck. She had huge pieces of skin (like 5" across on her forehead) coming off, but still attached in places. Her eyes were completely shut by the pieces of skin from her eyelids. I went and introduced myself to the mom and to the girl, Jessica. She didn't talk with me and obviously couldn't see me. After church, Rogers and I went and talked with the mom. She is a recent convert and wanted to know if we would pray. The girl has had this condition since she was 2 months - it isn't a burn, but rather a skin infection. She has been denied schooling because of her looks (perfectly legal here). I felt the Lord tell me that He wanted to heal her. So, we prayed, and through Rogers interpreting, I talked to her and told her Jesus loved her and wanted to heal her. Again, there was no response from her. We prayed and there was no instantaneous healing, but I still felt the Lord saying that is what he wanted to do.
On Sunday, they came back to church. Jessica's eyes were opened, there were no flaps of skin anywhere and she smiled at me. This, apparently, is one of those progressive healings. We have given her mother money to take her to a skin clinic in Jinja (40 km away) and see what they can do. But, the progress from Wed to Sunday was amazing to her mother and to Jessica. Jessica told her mom on Friday, after the healing had started, "We have to go back to that church!" Her mom asked if she remembered that there was a muzungu (white person) praying for her. Jessica didn't remember much at all from that night. She just kept saying, "I couldn't see and now I can see. We have to go back!"
Isn't God amazing???
Okay, enough for today. Thank you all for your continued support for this ministry so that we can rescue kids like Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses...and so we can pray and bring Jesus and His hope to children like Jessica. I so appreciate your partnership. May the Lord bless you through these stories of the lives of innocent children being changed by His grace and power.
In His love,
Laurie
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Hey, Everyone!
Sorry there was no email last Monday – the internet has been so slow lately and after 20 minutes of waiting for 2 emails to go through, I realized this was not the day to send pictures and emails. Apparently a cable in the ocean was cut or came apart (or whatever they do) and so last Friday there was no internet for all of Uganda for some hours, and then it is slow. But, I have to tell you that the internet has been slow so many times in my 6 months here, that I’m sure that cannot be the only reason. As I write this email, it is Thursday, July 15, and I am hoping to get the email out tomorrow, Friday, when I go to Mbale to spend the night (Friday night LOUD prayer service is tomorrow at the church across the street).
The pictures this week are of 1) Oliver’s teeth. When the kids came to us, many had never used a toothbrush. The result of this are teeth like you see. These kids often are in pain from the decay and we treat the infections that come and the pain, but the root cause we cannot treat. There are dentists here, but their ability to treat is minimal. They are not trained as they are in the States. We are praying and asking the Lord about how to help these kids and have felt that perhaps the Lord will send over some dentists from the States to at least begin the process of treating the children’s decay. If any of you have any ideas of dentists or dental assistants who might be interested in this kind of ministry, let me know.
The 2nd picture is one I took this morning of the boys playing a kind of Chinese jump rope game. But it’s done with a rope, not an elastic band. They were having a ball doing it. The boys whose faces you can see are, from the left, Dovico and Barthlomew. They were doing this during their recess in the morning. By the way, in the background on the top right side, is the roof of our "kitchen" which has been taken off while the owners add to their buildings. See the rest of the story about this in a couple more paragraphs below.
I’m sure you all have gotten the news about the bombs that went off in Kampala on Sunday night during the final game of the Football (soccer) World Cup. Many of you have already either written or texted to make sure I was okay. Thank you for being concerned. I actually was in Kampala and was across the street from the Rugby Club in Lugogo where 2 of the bombs went off, killing more than 50 people at that location. I was there for several hours on Saturday, the day before the bombing. I also was in a bus on my way back to Budaka and went right by the Rugby Club about 4 hours before the bombs exploded. Then, yesterday I read that there was an unexploded bomb found in Makindye, about ½ mile from where I was staying for the weekend. It’s all very sobering, as I’m sure you can imagine. (Update on Friday: yesterday there was a bomb scare in Mbale, where we go every week - someone left a parcel in a bank and they evacuated everything within 2 blocks, called in the army, etc.)
It’s given us a good chance to learn and teach about fear and faith at the church – I taught last night. Many people are scared to do anything, go anywhere, etc. I’m sure all you Americans remember how this feels from our experience only 9 years ago. There are many stories coming out about what al Qaeda is now planning, etc. One of the places they have said they are targeting is Mbale, which is city we go every Monday for shopping and to use the internet. We, obviously, will be careful and will listen to the Lord regarding our plans, but we will not just sit in fear and do nothing. I have shared all of this to ask you to pray for us for safety and the ability to keep functioning in the midst of fear of what might happen.
The 2nd thing is a much lighter subject. The people who own the building the orphanage is in have come in and are finishing the 6 rooms that are across from where our kids sleep. This means we have many workmen, supplies, etc. all over the small yard we use. As a matter of fact, if you look in the picture with the boys, you will see in the background on the right the roof of our kitchen area that they have taken down in order to finish off that “room.” We will still be able to use it as a kitchen for the balance of our rental agreement (through December of this year). We are figuring they will want to raise our rent now that they are more rooms available. This is common for buildings here – another reason we want to be able to buy our own land and build our own buildings. When we can do that, we will have upkeep costs, but no rental costs that continue rising.
If any of you have ideas or words from the Lord about how we can raise the money to acquire our own land and buildings, let me know. We currently have about $2,200 in that account from the art sale at ECC and a couple of individual contributions. The amount needed is about $175,000 to buy 8 acres and construct the orphanage and school buildings. (The orphanage will be large enough to house 100 orphans and their caretakers, and the school to accommodate 200 students, including our orphans.)
Okay, enough stuff for today. I trust that all of you are doing well. Thanks so much for the emails to keep me in touch with how everything is in your families and your lives. I love hearing it!
Thank you to all of you who help in supporting these kids. We thank God for you, as do the children. (I also use you in examples with the kids. For instance, when we find they have been writing on the walls, tearing their blankets, or some such thing, I will ask them if they think you who are sponsoring them would be happy to know that they are destroying property, costing the ministry money. They always hang their heads in shame and say no. And, things get better for a couple of days, then we start all over with it…ah, children. The same everywhere, eh?)
So, thank you for all your support and prayer. I am so glad to be partnering with you in the ministry in Budaka. May the Lord continue to bless you and reward you for your faithfulness in praying and giving.
In His great love,
Laurie
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These are the pictures that many (all?) of you didn't get last week.
First is of the 4 children from one family. Their mom is on the left and the children (those in Cornerstone school uniforms) are, from the left, Margret, Peter, John and Dovico. The other children are hers also. The man is the grandfather (their deceased father's father).
The second picture is of the produce that the parents brought. There are g-nuts (like peanuts, but smaller), oranges (they are green here on the outside), guava, cassava and maize (like our corn only bigger ligher colored kernels).
Hope you are all doing well!
Laurie
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Hey, Everyone!
I'm away for a few days of R&R, and am in Kampala with better internet connection. Not quite like the States, but better than Mbale.
Anyway, here are 2 pictures of our physical education day last Friday. The first is of the boys in a foot race. Please note that they wear no shoes for this. Whether football (soccer) or races, children don't wear shoes for these things.
The second is Duck, Duck, Goose. The 2 boys running are Amos in front and Barthlomew chasing him.
Thanks for waiting for these. Hopefully, they really go through this time.
In the next email I will send last week's photos...if this one works.
Love you all...sorry for those of you suffering in the heat. Our weather is quite a bit cooler right now, more like mid-70s all the time, but I can remember and sympathize with you.
Laurie
Hey, my email friends and family in America!
It’s a fairly cool day here in Uganda – actually only in the low 70s. It’s been raining a LOT here, which makes walking a dangerous proposition. There are no sidewalks and only 2 paved roads in Budaka. Quite tricky to get around without falling. There’s LOTS of mud everywhere. On to more interesting things…
On Fridays, the children go for physical education to a field that is about a 10-minute walk from the orphanage. It is a community field that anyone may use as long as no one else is there at the time. The teachers asked if I would come and teach the children some American games. So, we did relay races (a new concept to them) and played Duck, Duck, Goose. They loved all of them! You would have pictures of the day except I apparently forgot to load them on my computer and don’t have my camera with me – we have not had electricity for 5 days, so it has not been as easy as possible. So, at the end of this week I will send the pictures (when I am in Kampala for a break).
Recently, I have felt the Lord asking me to take each child for some special time away from the orphanage with me. I have been doing that over the past couple of weeks. It’s very special and the kids get so excited about “walking with Pastor Laurie.” I spend about ½ - 1 hour and we go and do some errand and talk along the way. On Friday afternoon, I took Ben with me. He is our oldest boy. As we walked, he held my hand (can you imagine any 10 or 11-year-old boy doing that in the States!?) and kept saying, “Pastor Laurie, I love you!” Then, at one point he said, “Pastor Laurie, when I grow up I want to be a pastor.” I told him I thought that was great if that’s what he wants to be and what he feels God is asking him to do. Then he said, “And, Pastor Laurie, when you grow up I want you to be a doctor.” I tried to explain to him that I was already grown up, but he insisted that I should think about it, so I just dropped it. So, if you hear about me applying to medical school…
Some of you know that our littlest child, Charity, fell this last week as she was climbing from the top to the bottom bunk of her bunkbed. We had to take her to the hospital in Mbale in the evening as she was bleeding and hurting. I texted and asked some of you to pray. Thanks so much to those of you who prayed…and those who are always praying for us. I’m happy to report she is fine – some bruising, but she is now playing again and acting totally normal. It was an interesting experience in Mbale, though, as the clinic we went to had no electricity, so the doctor needed to examine her and has only a kerosene lantern. So I pulled out my small (but powerful) flashlight and held it while he examined her. Then they gave her an injection of antibiotics. Total bill for the time: Shs 7,000=, or $3.50. (They didn’t take any off for me providing the light.) Now the only problem is that she got used to Auntie Rachel sleeping with her for 3 nights and wants someone with her every night.
The children have finished their first paper bead necklaces – the same kind I brought back when I was in the States. We will continue making them and then send them over to be sold. There were 2 of you who said you would be glad to help with the U.S. sales in churches and to individuals. I will be contacting you separately as we get to the point where we have things to ship over. If you are interested in helping with this, please let me know. The ones I remember who have contacted me were Marisa and Doug. If you also told me you would help and I have forgotten, please email me again and forgive my old mind J.
Please be sure to check out the Cornerstone Ministries Uganda website – it has been updated! It is at www.cornerstoneministriesuganda.org. Thanks to Richard for setting it up and updating it!
I always feel like there is so much more to tell you…oh, well, I’ll have to wait till next week. Thank you to all of you who write emails back and keep me informed of what is happening in your world. As I write this (Saturday night sitting on my bed at home), I realize tomorrow is the 4th of July and I don’t have sparklers…or anyone to celebrate with! Hope your 4th was good!
Thanks for partnering with me in this great venture. Maybe next week I can tell you about how school plans are coming for opening a school in January. May the Lord continue to bless you as you faithfully give to help these children and this community.
In His great love,
Laurie
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