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

Aug 17th Update

Okay, I'm in Mbale again today - long story, not worth telling :-) But I did forget to tell you this very exciting thing: we have had 5 Muslims in the past 2 weeks get saved. Yesterday a woman from Kampala came with her VERY sick 7-month-old son (doctors said he would not make it back to Kampala). She was Muslim, but heard that people are getting healed here. Late last night we prayed for her. Then this morning, after her son was quite well, she came and said she wanted to receive Jesus as her Savior.
God is amazing!
Love you all!
Laurie

Aug 16th Update

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Hello, Everyone!
It's a great fairly cool day in Mbale. I'm really enjoying this "cool" season. I guess I moved here in the hottest time of the year (January). It's probably in the low 80s today - humidity is not too high (or I'm getting used to it?).
I have included a picture of me in a traditional Ugandan dress called a gomez. I had this one made for a party for Rogers' grandfather's birthday party. The style is the same as most older-than-50-year-old women here wear all the time. Actually in the villages almost every woman, regardless of age, wears these all the time. If you are going to a party or a more formal occasion, it is proper to wear one of these. The party was from noonish to almost 6 pm. There were about 75 people there. I was seated on a plastic chair along with the priests and Grandfather and his "wife." (His wives - he had 4 - have all died and so one granddaughter was chosen to be a stand in during the whole thing as his "wife.")
The Anglican priests ran the "program" (there were 4 of them). It was basically a church service, complete with offering! Then some of the grandkids (he has 98!) had some songs to present. As they were singing, people walked up to the birthday "boy" with their gifts for him. At some point in the middle of the party, Rogers leaned over and asked, "so, is there anything in this similar to an American birthday party?" It took much self-control to not burst out laughing. The hot uncomfortable dress...the priests...the offering...the VERY dry cake...75 people...the food...men served first before women and children...the "candles" that were actually sparklers of a sort...women wrapping up left overs in banana leaves that they pulled off a banana tree next to the party...soda for only those sitting on the plastic chairs...being the only mzungu (white person) there... Anyway, instead of laughing, I whispered to Rogers, "The only similarity is the Happy Birthday song. But we don't sing it 7 times." It was great to have a cultural experience! Wish you all could have been here.
The other picture today is of Amos and his grandma. All the children (except the newest 4) have gone "home" to their clan or family for one week. I took pictures of all of them. It was very emotional for me this morning to let them go. Some were reticent to go, others excited. Ben said to me, "Pastor Laurie, I am going to stay with you." Touched my heart! Some know they will go back to very little food, possible beatings, lots of work at home - children are the laborers in most homes. Please pray with me that they will be protected and remember that God loves and is caring for them. The District of Mbale has required that they have "home" visits 3 times a year so they stay connected to their clans and tribes. So, this is the kids' first one. They will be back in one week.
I want to update you on the fund raising challenge for the land and buildings: thanks to all of you who are working on raising $1,000. I have heard from several of you that you are on your way. Thank you. This past week, I heard from one of you who has taken money out of a tax on death account, and is sending Cornerstone $20,000! Wow - God is doing an amazing thing. It is so encouraging and we are seeing that God is going to bring all that is needed. As you know, for about only $175,000, we will be able to buy the land and build the buildings to get our own place so we can love on more orphans and begin the school for them and community members. We are on our way! Again, thank you to all of you who are working on making this a reality.
And, thanks to all of you who every month give to support these orphans and our staff. We so appreciate your love for us. May the Lord continue to bless you!
In His great love,
Laurie

Aug 9th Update - Acts Chapter 2

Okay, one of you emailed me last week to say it sounded like we were living the 2nd book of Acts. Yes, sometimes I feel the same way. This weekend was one of those times. Let me tell you the highlights - it would take too long to tell each story!

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First, thank you all for praying for our outreach to the kids on Saturday. It was amazing! We had planned for 75-100 kids as this was the first outreach, we did no advertising, etc. We asked those in the church to bring unchurched children from their neighborhoods. We specified that we didn't want to just repeat Sunday School for kids who already have it - we wanted children who had not heard the Gospel and whose parents did not attend church. So, we met at the orphanage at 10am and were going to walk to where we have church (about a mile away). When we met there were only about 40 kids (including our 24 from the orphanage), so only 16 from the community. I was disappointed, but philosophical about it. We began the walk and when we had just gone down the road a bit, Rogers said perhaps we should have the event at Wilta Inn which was closer. So we stopped there and were going in when a group of about 10 kids came together and joined us. I began explaining the "rules" for the time to the 50 or so kids and while talking to them, more kids kept coming. I could really draw this out, but to make the long story short, by the time we began the songs and Bible story, we had 190 children!!! WOW! Rogers estimates that about 1/2 of them were from unchurched homes from the responses of the kids. We played games, sang songs, had a Bible story and snack, then sent them home. We had to moved to a larger hall after starting because of the numbers. For those of you who have worked with me before, I ran it sort of like a Day Camp. The energy was amazing. God was definitely moving and many children heard the Gospel for the first time. Hallelujah! I have attached a picture which shows a little more than 1/2 of the kids who came. I have no idea what we will do next time - just finding a place to have the event is difficult. What happens if we double in size?
That brings me to the church this weekend. We had so many people coming in, we couldn't fit everyone in the room. By the time the sermon began (about 1 1/2 hours into the service) there were 119 in attendance...in a room that is 30'x30' or so. Rogers and I just look at each other and say, "what can you do?" We discussed putting a "no vacancy" sign outside :-). We had 56 in the children's service and 63 in the adult service. Then, at the end of church, Rogers asked if there was anyone who wanted to receive Jesus as Savior and 3 people walked to the front. Each one is a testimony in itself:

1. A young man who has been part of a legalistic cult here in Budaka. He came to the house to argue with Rogers about their doctrine. He has been at the house 3-4 times and Rogers has consistently shared the Scripture and refused to argue. Yesterday he was at church and said he wanted this Jesus that Rogers keeps talking about.
2. A woman (Phoebe) who came with Mama Jessica (the woman whose daughter was miraculously healed of the skin disease - more news about that in a paragraph or two). She said if this God can heal Jessica, she wants to know Him.
3. Brother John's (our water man who got saved 3 months ago) wife. We prayed with John on 2 or 3 occasions because she has been very bitter and abusive in her words to him about his salvation. Just last week we were praying for him and telling him when we pray, God will act. We just didn't know how soon. She and the children have mocked him and she has refused for any of the kids to come to church. He is a very quiet and humble man who rarely talks, but yesterday when she came forward to receive Christ, He was almost dancing in the aisle. His smile was a mile wide!! He kept saying to me (in very broken English), "That's my wife!! That's my wife!!

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"Isn't God amazing? Rogers spoke yesterday and was talking about prayer and that God answers. So, when John's wife came forward, we talked to them about the prayer only last week and that God had answered what seemed impossible at the time. 

Before I go further, the 2nd picture is one of our girls with their new dresses, made by one of the sisters at Evergreen Christian Center. This is only one of the outfits she has made for all the girls...and the boys' shorts and shirts are also coming soon. Thank you, Ann! The girls loved them. This is a picture of them on their way to church yesterday. They were so proud. The girls are, from left to right in the back row: Hellen and Brenda; middle row l to r: Natasha and Christine; front row l to r: Vanessa, Charity, Margret and Oliver. 

Another word about Jessica and her mom. We didn't know till yesterday some of the rest of the story: Turns out that one of the ladies in the apts that are attached to the hall where we have church is friends with Mama Jessica. Her name is Agnes. About 4 weeks ago, she told M. Jessica that she should bring Jessica to be prayed for by us. She had never been to church with us, was not a Christian (has since become one!), but she had heard us tell people during church that if they had a physical need we would pray with them after service. She had looked in the windows as we prayed for people and decided this was what Jessica needed. She knew that M. Jessica had taken Jessica to many witchdoctors and had charms put on her, incantations said over her. She had been to several "churches" in the area that proclaimed she would be healed (asking for money in order to pray for her), etc. M. Jessica and her husband have done these things as well as taking her to many doctors for 7 years since Jessica first contracted the disease. Nothing has helped, but they continued and decided they would try Agnes' suggestion to bring her to Cornerstone. The rest, as they say, is history. Now M. Jessica is bringing her friends to get saved. Agnes herself came and got saved 2 weeks ago. All of them are proclaiming that if our God can heal Jessica, they want to serve Him. So cool. Jessica and her mom are becoming evangelists. 

We realize that we need to begin a new believers class - there are so many! Ibrahaim, the muslim man who got saved last week, has been at EVERYTHING we do this week. He has had such an amazing conversion and just can't get enough of the Lord and His people. He was a great help on Saturday (went to town 2x to get more snacks and drinks when we ran out, helped with games, handed out cookies, etc.), came to the teachers' training yesterday and said he wants to come and help someone who will teach the kids, wanted to come to the ministers' training in the evening, came Wednesday night to church, came by the house a couple of times. So, we will begin meeting with all those who are recent converts for the first 1/2 hour of church each week to go through some of the basics of their Christian walk.

Now, in the midst of such wonderful things, you probably could guess that the enemy is throwing some wrenches into the works. Please keep praying - last night someone tried to break into our house at about 2 in the morning. It was frightening, but we are well secured with locks and bars on all the windows.
On Saturday morning, someone placed a dead chicken on the doorstep of our offices - this is a way to cast a spell on someone who you want harm to come to. Of course, no harm can come to us - the Lord is greater than all their spells. But, please pray as the enemy is bringing things against us...especially fear.
Sorry this got so long - wish I could tell you everything...but there are limits...

Now I will try to answer all you who wrote emails. I love you all. Thank you for your participation in the ministry to Budaka. God is doing great things! 

Please remember the challenge from a couple of weeks ago...a challenge from a sister who felt the Lord challenge each of you who are reading this to raise $1,000 so that Cornerstone can buy land and build buildings for the orphanage (to be able to take more kids) and the church. Please let me know what you are hearing about this. No one has responded so far - I'd love to hear what you are thinking.
Love you...and would love to hear from you!

Laurie

Aug 2nd Update

Hey, Everyone!

It’s a great day so far…I am in Mbale early today as we have a burial to go to today. One of the members of the church, Prossy, has lost her older brother. Prossy is a nurse who has a pharmacy shop here in Budaka. So today we go “deep” (about 30 km from Budaka town) into one of the villages to attend the burial. Here in Uganda, when someone dies, the gathering is a burial, and they actually bury the body (not usually in a casket unless the people are very wealthy). It has to be buried within about 24-36 hours of death as there is no refrigeration. I am sure I will write about it more next week after being there. There are only 2 things I know from Rogers about it: 1) women and men are separated during the time and 2) we take condolence money to give to Prossy. Actually, Rogers told me that many people see burials of relatives as a great money-maker. Hmmm…wonder if someone gets in great debt what they might do…

Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses are doing very well. Actually, yesterday afternoon Natasha came to talk to me and complained that all the other girls have flowers on their sheets and hers don’t. She wants new sheets – so, I know she is adjusting (and also getting set straight about what is important and not important. LOL)

This Saturday begins our first Saturday School. We have asked everyone at church to bring at least one unsaved child from Budaka to a 10am-12pm Kids’ fun day. We will meet at the orphanage, then go either to the church facility (if there are less than 50 kids) or the Wilta Inn down the street. I have planned games, songs, snacks and a Bible story. Our goal is to reach unchurched kids and families in Budaka. This week’s theme will be Jesus Loves You!. Please be praying with us for our Father to touch children’s hearts with the wonderful news of Jesus and His love for children.

Tomorrow and Wednesday we have scheduled English classes for our staff. Tomorrow I will start with the basics – what nouns, verbs and adjectives are. We will practice using various things around the orphanage as our nouns and having everyone make sentences with verbs I have written on cards. Should be interesting…I’ll let you know.

I am hoping to include a picture of Jessica, whom I wrote about a couple of weeks ago. (The internet is VERY slow today, so you might get this without the picture, in which case I will send it Thursday.) It is amazing the difference in her! The healing began and she was dramatically different in only 4 days, but now even more changed. We also sent her to a skin disease clinic in Jinja and the doctors have given her some medicine that will continue the healing process. Yesterday as we were just about to leave for church an older man came to the house and asked to speak with Rogers and I. Turns out, he is her grandfather who has had only a minimal relationship with God and came to say thank you to us for what “we” have done for his granddaughter. He said he has decided to come to our church because of what our God can do. He is the Local Council 1 chairman in Kabuna, a village near Budaka. That means much influence in that area. Isn’t God amazing???

Yesterday at church, people just kept coming and coming – we soon ran out of chairs. We had to have all the children sit 2 to a chair. We had 48 kids (24, of course are ours from the orphanage) and 55 adults. First time we’ve been that many – don’t know what we will do for space and chairs. We are discussing possibilities at this point. Praise God for these kinds of troubles. God is at work.

Then, after church, one of the young women came back with a young man. Rogers recognized him as one of the boda boda (motorcycle taxi) drivers he sometimes uses. He is Muslim. Yesterday, because of the influence of 2-3 members of the church, as well as things Rogers has said to him, he decided to give his life to Jesus. He came to ask Rogers to help him get saved. Praise the Lord!! God is at work (I know, I’m repeating myself…but I just keep being amazed at what He is doing!)

Okay, so many more stories to tell, but have to keep it at least fairly brief so you will read it. Hope your life is also full of God’s amazing work. Please know that your prayers and money are going to affect much change in the community of Budaka. As Romans 8 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And, “How will He not also…graciously give us all things?” He is giving all of us, both you and me, His life. Please stop and thank Him for His goodness to us. I love you all…and am glad for our work together.

Laurie