Dec 27th - Christmas Week Greetings!

This email was going to be quite different, but the morning's events have changed the direction. Let me first tell you some of the more fun, mundane things that have happened this past week:

• Amos (about 6 years old) told Pastor Rogers last week that "before I was saved, I used to be a thief," in answer to how things have changed for him since being at Cornerstone...for 2 years. Yes, my friends, Amos was a thief up to his 4th year...Love a child's perspective and heart for God! On a more sober note, he talked about watching his dad try to kill his older brother. We knew his grandmother rescued him after his mom died, but didn't know about what was happening with his dad. So many stories...31 of them, actually. 
• The kids all came to my house on Friday morning for pancakes - 31 of them with their mom and dad, Rogers, Betty and I. That's 36 people in my living room. It was really crowded, but so fun. After they finished, we told them they got to go home that day. So much cheering!! So, they are home now until this Friday. I am missing them, but know that for the most part, they are having a great time. 
• A little contest: in the first picture, can you identify what the object is that the men are carrying to put in my back yard? What is it and what is it's use (2 points total possible...;) [SORRY, picture did not come though]
• The second picture is of the front of church all decorated for the Christmas service. They do a lot of decorating with balloons at Christmas here. The Christmas tree is there to the left of George and David (David is running the service and George is the interpreter). Church here on Christmas is traditionally very small - the opposite of the States - as people leave the towns to go back to their home villages to visit parents, family and clans who still live out there. So our attendance was just about 1/2 of normal. 
• The 3rd picture is of Moses in his suit (thanks, Maria!). He does stand, walk, etc. by himself, but was being goofy and refusing to stand and look at the camera, so one of the boys stood him up for the picture. He has become quite a character - loves life so much! 
• We had a Christmas/Boxing Day party for the church yesterday - Cornerstone Bakery (me) made the cakes (7). We had about 200 people...2/3 were kids who heard we were serving cake and soda. People had lots of fun. It started at 3pm...which meant only a handful of people were there until 4:30 when everything really got started. We gave out all the extra soap, mouthwash and some of the toothbrushes brought with the team in August (thanks, Sunnyside Team!!) and asked each person to give their item to someone in need in the name of Jesus. BTW - that's what Boxing Day is about - giving out of your abundance to those in need. 
• The whole foundation is dug and this morning they were throwing big rocks (about 20-30kg each - 50-65 pounds) down in it. Later today or tomorrow they begin pouring cement and whatever else they do with a foundation. Sorry, I'll report as it happens, but I don't have much experience with the building process. We're so excited to receive the Evergreen team in 2 weeks - they are coming to work on the building with our Ugandan builders.

Okay, now to what happened this morning. Seemed like a normal morning till I got a call from Rogers that we had been robbed. Someone came during the night and stole valuable things from our kitchen - the 4 large pots we cook in, 3 flasks (thermoses), 41 plastic plates, 7 ceramic plates, 10 mugs, 46 forks, 2 trays and 4 serving spoons. The police wouldn't come, so Rogers went there and made a statement, after which they asked for a "tip" and he had to give them Shs10,000 (about $4) in order for them to process. But, they won't come to the site or do anything else but have it in the file. I have done all the investigation that will be done. All the neighbors came and "tsk, tsked" for an hour or so (so helpful-HA). We have a night watchman who supposedly keeps these things from happening...we will see what happens with him. Anyway, we're glad the kids are safe (they're at home except for the 4) and the person/people didn't do any physical harm to any of us.

There was a warning from the US Embassy this past week for Americans in Uganda about credible evidence that terrorist groups are targeting Americans and American interests in Uganda during the holiday season, and a Ugandan pastor in Kampala had just finished his Christmas service Sunday morning when someone walked up and threw acid in his face. He is now blind and in extreme pain. We are being very vigilant right now, as you might guess.

I usually don't share these kinds of things with all of you, but felt you should know and thank God for our safety and pray as you are led. Thank you so much!

We are having a New Year's Eve gathering, but may change the way it is organized and the location so we are not so "seen." I trust all of you will have a Happy New Year's. Can you believe it's already 2012??

Thank you for your continued prayers, thoughts, cards, financial gifts and wishes for us. Please pray as you are led - you never know what you are preventing and/or bringing into being for Cornerstone, our kids, staff and church. God is at work!
Laurie

Dec 24th - Merry Christmas!

Just a short note to say Merry Christmas from the other side of the world...from all of us at Cornerstone! Have fun celebrating the birth of Jesus.

We love you!

Laurie and Rogers...and the staff and kids at Cornerstone

Dec 19th - Late Monday greetings!

Goofed up this morning and forgot the cord to my computer. We haven't had power for 36 hours, so the computer was dead. Went back to Budaka and came back to get this message off to all of you...also to spend the night here and get some rest after a couple of really busy weeks with no days off.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas! Amazing how you can miss it when there are no Christmas carols playing, no decorations up, no lights on houses or businesses, no Christmas cards from friends (hint, hint...), and no kids' Christmas programs. Actually, it really helps me stay focused on the real Christmas. I will get to celebrate with my family here on Christmas morning at church, then for a Christmas meal at noon. On Monday (Boxing Day here) we will have a Christmas party for the church with cakes from Cornerstone Bakery! That means lots of work for me between now and then, but this is fun work!

This past week we began the work on the children's home and the school - it's so exciting! Thank you to all of you who gave so sacrificially so this building can be built! The first picture is of Rogers and I swinging the first pick axe to dig the foundation. The second picture is of one of the guys who is helping dig the foundation (there are about 30 men working each day). In front of him is a rock which he is breaking up with his sledgehammer. This area of Uganda is known for all the big rocks, and we have found many, many that have to each be broken up. The foundation is about 7 feet deep as of today...all hand dug. (E team - aren't you glad you're not doing THIS part of the building?? Ha!) I turned to Rogers this morning as we were looking at all the big rocks they have dug out and said, "Well, it is CornerSTONE." ;)

The third picture is a little gift from God to me yesterday. I was missing some traditional Christmas kinds of things and went to our bakery (next door to our house) and there was this little moth on the wall. It looked so much like a candy cane! The Lord is so good. No, I didn't eat the moth (for all you smart alecks who thought that!), but it did give me a little Christmas cheer to see the colorings. And, another amazing bug here in Uganda. God is creative!

A couple of other things:

1. We have a new "dad" for the boys. His name is Gusta and he is Rogers' much younger brother who is off for 9 months between his S6 year (like 12th grade in the States) and University. He needs to make some money and was willing to come and do this work. We already see a change in the boys behavior and are so happy he has come. Please pray that he will quickly acclimate and help these boys in their relationship with God, each other and all of us. 
2. Margret (aged 4 or 5) came to me 2 days ago really upset. She said, "Pastor Laurie, look at my ears!" I asked what the problem was...was she in pain? She said, "No! But they are going out. I told Aunt Monicah and she won't do anything about it!" I had her show me what she was talking about - her ears don't lie flat against her head and she wants them to! She is upset that her "mom" won't do something to make them lie flat. This girl is something else! I just told her that God made her that way and He wanted her ears to be like that. She said, "No! I want them down." Ah, the trials of a young child... 
3. I ate my first grasshopper today. It's quite a snack in western Uganda and Rogers and Betty just came back from there and brought some with them. Rogers said, "You should take the head off before you eat it because your stomach probably can't take it." I let him pull the head off and then I ate the rest. (The legs are pulled off before they're fried.) Kind of tasted like chicken...just kidding...it tasted like a salty crisp cracker sort of thing. Weird, but at least I can say I ate one. Just thought you'd all like to know! 
4. The kids are going home this Friday (shhh...don't tell them - they won't know till Friday morning when I have them all up to the house for an American pancake breakfast before they leave!) for one week. Going home means to their clans and/or relatives who are still alive. Most are so excited to go, but some are reluctant as they go home to very little food, beatings and lots of sickness. The kids always come back with skin infections, malaria, worms and other conditions. Please pray that this will be a time of joy as they celebrate Christmas with their relatives. (For those of you who are new to these email updates - the government requires that they go home once every 4 months so they keep touch with their traditions and families. It's hard for us to send them, but we don't have a choice. And, we know it's important for them to keep touch with their roots. We have 4 that have no family to go see and they stay behind and we do special things with them.) This time Pastor Rogers and I will be taking them home in a car - highly unusual - and taking a kilogram (about 2 pounds) of beef for each child so the family has something special to eat on Christmas. 

My next update will be after Christmas. I wish all of you a great time rejoicing in the birth of Jesus, our Savior! Have a little plum pudding for me!

Laurie

Dec 13th - A day late...

Sorry to all of you who were worried - everything is okay here. We had a "study tour" to Kampala yesterday all day with our Headmaster, David, our builder, Stephen and Rogers and I. We visited schools that are considered excellent here to get ideas for classrooms, stairs, banisters, bulletin boards, book racks, etc., etc. It was a very worthwhile investment as Rogers and I got to share our vision and picture...more than the blueprints and so much better than just talking about what we want.

So, here I am in Mbale on Tuesday (instead of Monday) writing to you, and as always, so much more to tell than can be told in one email. But let me try to give you at least a little picture of our life here this past week.

• On Wednesday night, the kids learned about the birth of Jesus and then made stables and the characters from the story out of sticks, leaves and mud. I have included one picture of all the kids standing behind their creations, but if you want to see all of them, get on my FB pictures and look at Christmas in Budaka (2011). They are really creative. This Sunday night, I will show them a video of the Christmas story. 
• The 2nd picture is of a small group of kids at my house playing with legos. Thank you all for your gifts of legos and duplos to these kids. the legos stay at my house and I have a group of 4-5 children each week who come and spend 2 hours with me. I read them a book, they build something with legos and they get to talk to Abby on the phone individually. The kids in the picture are, from the left, Sarah, Mutwahiru and Dovico. 
• On the past 3 Sunday nights we have had our weekly movie night with the kids at Pastor Rogers' house (he has a TV) and have been watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The kids were enraptured! They kept asking me questions like, "Pastor Laurie, will they get the car?", "Pastor Laurie, will the man get the children and kill them?", "Pastor Laurie, will they all die?". They can't wait for the ending! But, at the end when the bad guys got their comeuppance, all the kids started clapping and cheering. It was so fun to watch them enjoy it so much. AND, they really enjoyed the songs and dancing. Thanks to whichever one of you it was who sent me back with this movie. There are many more to watch...
• We sold our first order from the bakery. I was so excited! It was to the 3 Peace Corps workers who come visit occasionally. You will see them in the 3rd picture as they hold their goodies and are handing me money. They have since ordered 2 more times...and told me they are going to hire a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) driver to come pick up orders and take to their homes. They said, "we will go back to America fatter, but at least we are supporting the kids!" Ha! 
• I made 150 snickerdoodles and a loaf of bread (which I cut into small pieces) and took to church for everyone to try as an advertisement for Cornerstone Bakery. (Hope it's not like money changers in the temple...) People loved both things, but kept commenting, "Americans sure like sweet things!" about the cookies. 
• Our kids go "home" to their clans/families next week on Friday the 23rd for a week so they can celebrate Christmas in a cultural way and enjoy their extended families. 
• I saved the best for last: BIG NEWS! We officially begin building our kids' home and school TODAY! Stephen (our builder) is measuring, looking at the plans, and hiring day laborers now. We have a building team coming from Hillsboro, OR, in early January who will join Stephen for 10 days. He is so excited to have the expertise and help from some Americans. THANK YOU to all of you at Evergreen who gave sacrificially so we can begin the building. It is amazing. For those of you who are not from there, at the direction of Pastors Ann and Jared, the church collected a Christmas offering for the orphanage of over $42,000! We were overwhelmed. We should be able to be in the building right after the school year begins (in late January). God is so good and His people are so generous. THANK YOU again. 

I think that is enough for one day. I hope you made it all the way to the end with me. I know Christmas is coming and you are all busy with so many activities. May you be blessed as you celebrate Jesus' birth. Thank you to all of you who are helping the people of Budaka come to know this baby and our Savior in a real way.

Full of God's love,

Laurie

Dec 8th - Of snakes, corruption and Christmas

Have I mentioned lately how much I dislike reptiles? 

Those who have been receiving my emails from a year and a half ago will remember when I accidentally killed a poisonous snake.

(If you want to read about it, go to www.cornerstoneministriesuganda.blogspot.com and to the June 7th, 2010 email.)
Quicklink: http://cornerstoneministriesuganda.blogspot.com/2010/08/jun-27th-update.html

Well, this week has been trying again with reptiles. First, a lizard jumped on my shoulder from the roof of the latrine as I was going in. (It would have been so much better AFTER I had been in!!) Then, 2 days later, I was out back and found a snake skin...you know, the ones they shed as they grow bigger? Well, it must be quite big now! Then, as I was headed to Mbale on Friday, there was a snake in the road that had been hit by a vehicle, but only 1, so I could still tell it's size...about 5-6' long and 2-3" in diameter. YUCK! Then, about 1/2 mile from there was a dead monitor lizard in the road. I am SO over reptiles right now!!

Corruption - something we talk about and get upset about occasionally in America, but it is a way of life here. Here's some info from the Uganda Monitor newspaper this past week.

"Ranked among the most corrupt nations, Uganda is at position 143 of 183 surveyed countries in the 2011 corruption perception index released yesterday by global graft watchdog, Transparency International (TI)...Countries are scored on a scale of 0(highly corrupt), to 10 (very clean). Uganda scored 2.4."

Last week, the District Inspector of Schools (DIS) came and inspected Cornerstone Learning Centre. He looks for how our children perform in testing, how the facilities are, if the teachers all have credentials, what curriculum we are using, etc. He gave us a big thumbs up, then put his palm out. Of course the 2 things happened at separate times, but he insisted that we give him Shs400,000 (about $175) if we wanted to get licensed. The license costs Shs50,000 or less. The rest is to line his pockets. I was incensed! Headmaster David tried to negotiate to a lower sum, then Pastor Rogers tried. But he said there was no negotiation. I said, "Let's report him!" Rogers meekly said, "We can, but he will close the school down if we do." Some things are so hard to stomach from my western viewpoint! Of course, this isn't the first, nor will it be the last time we have to deal with paying "tips." I try to stay out of it as it just frustrates me, as you can see.

Okay, let's move on to Christmas. As I read your emails and Facebook posts, I realize it is the Christmas season. But, here the holiday is celebrated on the 25th. There is no exchanging of gifts. There is no Christmas music. No sermons talk about the Christmas story (except on Christmas Day...oh, and except for mine yesterday). So, on December 1st (last Thursday), I decided to play some Christmas music from my iTunes (the iPod was stolen, so had to settle for the computer). Peace, one of Rogers' nieces that he cares for, was at the house and wanted to know what music that was. I told her I was listening to Christmas music and she said, and I quote, "Pastor Laurie, it is TOO early for Christmas music!" So funny to think about the States where you can't go anywhere after Thanksgiving without hearing Christmas music.

One more thing...we had Saturday School out in Kabuna this past Saturday. The first picture is of the kids (well over 100!) waiting for us as we arrived an hour before the whole event was supposed to start. Those of you from the Sunnyside team, you will remember this kind of thing every day as we went out for camp! I shared the Christmas story with them (I know, too early in the month, but whatever...), we sang songs (see the video, those of you who can get it), played games and gave them a piece of bread and a small bottle of juice. The 2nd picture is of Sarah, our newest Cornerstone Kids member, handing out bread to these children. She has developed into quite a leader within Cornerstone and at Sunday School. We so love this girl! I took 4 of our kids to help out in Kabuna: Brenda 1, Ronald, John and Sarah. Really cool to watch them serving other children. Oh, and we had 336 kids - that's more than we have ever had in Budaka! And on our first time to Kabuna. The Lord is touching people all over.

Two of the men who come to Cornerstone Christian Centre (our church in Budaka) from Kabuna have asked us to begin Cornerstone in Kabuna for all those that come from there. We had 77 kids from the Saturday School come to Sunday School yesterday - yes, they walked 3 miles to come to Sunday School! Not quite ready for a church plant, but you never know.

I love you, and thank all of you for your participation in the Gospel that is being spread here in Uganda. God continues to amaze us with His love for the people and direction for the work He wants to do here. Thank you for making it possible for us to do this work with your financial contributions, your prayers and your emotional and spiritual support through emails, texts and phone calls. What a great team we are together! (A special thanks to all of you at ECC who have been going without, selling things, and raising money other ways for our kids home to be able to be built. May God bless you as much as you are blessing us!)

Laurie


VIDEO on YouTube: http://youtu.be/0ysB6kpoI4I

Nov 28th - An added bonus today...

Okay, here's my regular weekly update of what's happening, but ALSO I have 3G internet here in Mbale with my internet stick and I can download a video to you. I sure hope you all can view it. It will give you a 7-second picture of what happened on Saturday at our Open Day, the day parents come at the end of the year to see what their children have done and how they have performed in school. In the video you will see:

• on the far right with the microphone is Natasha
• 2nd row on the far left is David
• 3rd row on the far left is Ronald
• 4th row, 4th person over is Sarah (our newest child - doesn't she look happy?) 
• 4th row, on the far right is Brenda 1

The rest of the kids are from the school, but are not among our orphans - this is the Cornerstone Learning Centre choir. They did a great job. All the classes also presented songs, dances, poems, readings, etc. throughout the time. They were quite entertaining, and apparently this is the first time this kind of thing has been done by any schools in Budaka. The parents were so pleased!

I have sent you a picture of Brenda praying at the beginning to start the program. I'm so proud of her outgoing nature and her relationship with God. She is an amazing young lady...and growing up so fast!

I have also sent you a picture of Brenda 2 (one of the children we got in May from Kabuna). When she came she couldn't speak English at all...as you can see in this picture, she is speaking in front of about 150 parents, along with 125 of her schoolmates. Amazing the changes in these children!

Other things about the day:

• Official start time: 8:30 am. Actual start time: 11:00 am. I kept calling Rogers, saying, "now is it time to go down?" and he would laugh and say, "no, Pastor Laurie, not yet. Don't worry." I just didn't want to miss anything the kids did. The byword for Uganda - wait...
• There have to be speeches by enough people to put you to sleep...I believe there were 8 speeches, one of which lasted 45 minutes. The others were not much shorter. The whole day was over at 4:30pm...5 1/2 hours!!! But, it was broken up by the kids doing their presentations, which almost made the speeches worthwhile.
• At one point, I felt something and looked down and there was a kind of yellow/orange streak on the back of my hand. What could it be? I asked Rogers, who was seated in front with me at the Directors' table and he leaned over and whispered, "It's wasp defecation." I looked up and sure enough there was a wasp. Who knew I would be the target? Another weird experience in Uganda. (Sorry, no picture for this one.)
• The Top Class (Kindergarten) did a poem all together with motions. It was all in English and was directed to their parents. I didn't catch all the words, but will ask for a copy to send to you. But, the part I heard was so entertaining from an American perspective. It was asking the parents to wash their hands before feeding their children so they would not get diarrhea. First time I've ever heard a poem with the word "diarrhea" in it...how about you? 
• Johnson is a great dancer and was leading the Top Class in a dance when his pants started falling off. I have a video (too long to send, sorry) of him dancing, pulling up his pants, tucking in his shirt, dancing, pulling up his pants, tucking in his shirt, etc., etc. It was so funny to watch. I told Headmaster David that kids' programs are the same around the world. We all have stories like that to tell about our kids' programs, don't we? 

So, Open Day was a great success, and great advertisement for the school for next year. All the pupils have gone home now and only our 31 kids are left for about 2 months. It's so fun to have them alone for awhile!

Only 2 other things to report today:

1. The chickens are doing so well...with a minor exception of the cannibalistic ones who ate their own last week. We found 2 chickens who had been pecked to death. "Murder in the Chicken House." 
2. I had a great Thanksgiving...3 great guests, homemade rolls, real butter (bought in Kampala last week), roasted chicken (turkey was too expensive!), mashed potatoes and gravy and even pumpkin pie for dessert (the cream didn't whip, but we just poured it over the pie - still tasty!). We played games, talked, did dishes, ate too much and generally had a Thanksgiving almost like home. It was our little bit of America in the midst of Uganda. We were thankful!! 

Okay, enough for today. So many more stories, but I will stop here. I so look forward to seeing those of you who are coming in January and February...2 teams in 2 months, and pray for your preparations. All of you - I'm excited to hear from you (this is a direct hint to send an email!!).

Thank you all for your support and love to make all the above things possible (yes, even the wasp defecation ;). It's great to continue partnering with you!

Laurie  

VIDEO: http://youtu.be/FaqNBhIaZTE

Nov 22nd - Great news!

Just a quick note to show you:

1. one of Mutwahiru's crutches
2. Mutwahiru in the doctor's office

We got great news yesterday from the doctor - Mutwahiru is doing so well, he is to walk with only 1 crutch until about Christmas and then NO CRUTCHES. It will have been about 3 years for him since he broke his leg, got it set incorrectly and has been on crutches!

As we sat there yesterday, the doctor said, "Mutwahiru, can you walk without them?" Mutwahiru said, "Yes," and proceeded to walk across the room. I exclaimed, "You can???!!!"

Anyway, bottom line is that within a year of this time, his legs will be the same length (they begin lengthening in February) and he will walk normally. We are so thankful to God!!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for this boy...and to Mark and Sharon who were touched to help financially for this miracle to happen. Hallelujah! God uses many ways to accomplish His purposes.

God bless you all - this is a great Thanksgiving present!!

Laurie

Nov 21st update - It's Thanksgiving week! I'm thankful...

It's a week to reflect and be thankful for all we have. Although Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here in Uganda, I am truly thankful for so many things at this season. Just take the example of this week:

• We began having 2 services on Sunday mornings due to the lack of space for both the children and the adults in our present rental building. We expected maybe 10 people at the first service as it is at 8:30am. When we got there, there were already 20-30 people waiting. By the end of the service, we had 75 adults. There is a picture I took of the service 30 minutes into it. There were 28 kids at that service. Second service (10:30), then, we anticipated being smaller. But, it was almost the same size - there were 68 adults (taking away those that stayed 2 services) and 75 kids. So, this is our biggest attendance yet...246 total. God continues doing amazing things in Budaka! A woman (Rogers said an "old woman" - she was in her 50s...hmmm) came to get saved. She said a friend of hers got saved at Cornerstone 2 weeks ago and she kept asking her, "Why are you so happy now? So many bad things have happened to you, but you always are smiling and happy." The friend told her about Jesus, so she came to get saved too.
• In the past 3 weeks, we have begun having people coming from Naboa (about 10 km - 6 miles - from Budaka). One woman heard that we would pray for her and her marriage. Rogers prayed with her, her husband called that night and reconciled with her. She called the next day and wanted to get saved since Jesus is so powerful. The next Sunday, she brought her mother (they walked) who wanted to get saved after seeing what God could do for her daughter.
• A man was in town from Tirinyi, about 25 km (15 miles) for business and a businesswoman in town told him about her church, Cornerstone. He attended on Wednesday night and gave his life to Jesus. This was about 3 weeks ago. He comes every service now, walking and catching rides with a boda bicycle (taxi by bike - you ride on the back). He came out of a cult there in Tirinyi, and his family is still involved, so he is afraid to go to church in town. He is really on fire for God!
• We bought a refrigerator, stove and generator on Friday!! I'm so excited to get to start baking for Cornerstone! They are all in the other half of my duplex (the ministry office and guest house) and we will try to get them set up today or tomorrow. My goal is to start baking on Wednesday. Don't know if that will really happen - nothing is as quick as I think here ;).
• Thursday, Thanksgiving for all you Americans, I am taking the day off and I have invited 3 Peace Corps volunteers who live in or near Budaka to come and celebrate with me. I am going to Kampala tomorrow (to take Mutwahiru for a check up) and will shop at one of the expat stores there...hoping to find Stovetop Stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin filling and butter (for mashed potatoes). Whatever they have that even resembles any of that, I will get! The 3 Americans are Aubrey, Caroline and Ryan. So excited to play games, make "American" food and visit for the day!
• The 2nd picture is of Natasha with her new shoes on. You can see she loves them!! They have 3 little buckles...so cool! She is one of the kids who kept their shoes very well and so was rewarded with a "new" pair of shoes when I came back. 
• This Saturday is our Open Day - that's the day at the end of the school year when parents come to see how their children have done all year. There is music, dancing, singing and speeches. According to Rogers, it will be 5-6 hours long...yawn...but, I will try to stay cheery! I have to make a speech, but I guarantee you mine will be quite short! And I will talk about all of you, our supporters!
• A rumor is going around that our chickens have died...not so! We have not lost one. We are so glad!! Within about 6-8 weeks, they should begin laying. Then, the fun begins.

Just one more thing: I wanted to report great news: since January, we have taken in an average of Shs1,000,000 (about $370) per month from our various businesses. This represents about 9.25% of the needed monthly income. I am thrilled that we have come so far in this year, especially with the death of all our first chickens, the ruining of some of our crops by hail, others by cows and even termites. We have learned many things in these past 2 years about what will and won't work here in Budaka. Thank you for being along on the ride with us! And thank you to all of you who have given regularly and those who have given occasionally since we began. May the Lord bless you for your faithful giving. We are still heading toward the goal of being self-supporting. Thank you for joining us in this endeavor. Please keep praying with us that the Lord will give us wisdom as we proceed. Thank you.
In His great and awesome love,
Laurie

Nov 13 - It's Monday! (Road trip in Uganda after midnight)

It's great to be alive today! A few of you know that we had a rather harrowing trip on Friday with a group of 43 students from the school.

The plan was to go to Kampala to see the Mandela National Stadium - the only stadium in Uganda...where the Uganda Cranes play football (soccer for all you Americans), go to the National Zoo - the only zoo in Uganda, then to Wonder World, an amusement park - you guessed it, the only amusement park in Uganda. It took 4 hours to get to the stadium from Budaka. We got a tour of the stadium, and the kids were allowed to run around the track, as you can see from the picture above. Some were quite bored, as you can see from the Bored Brenda picture.

Before I go on, let me interject that this was a "study tour" which most schools do here in Uganda. Once a term, any students whose parents pay for it can go on the tour the school offers. Of our 117 school students, 43 went. Six of those were our own Cornerstone kids. We told our kids that if they got the top position in their class at the mid-term exams, we would pay for them to go on the study tour. I am so happy to report that our kids got top spot in all the classes! Both Rogers and I are so proud of them for this achievement! (And, by the way, Brenda 2 has only been in school since May, so it's quite an accomplishment to be top of her class! She couldn't even speak English when she came to us.) Our top scholars are, in order left to right and back row first in the picture:

• David - P1 (1st grade)
• John (eyes closed for the pic!) - P2 (2nd grade)
• Natasha - P3 (3rd grade)
• Johnson - Top Class (Kindergarten)
• Vanessa - Middle Class (Pre-K)
• Brenda 2 - Baby (Preschool) 

This picture was taken at the zoo, our 2nd stop of the day. We ate lunch out on the lawn in front (brought rice and meat with us) with about a zillion other school groups...good thing everyone wears their school uniforms so we can find our kids! As you might imagine, it was a first for all 6 of our kids. I'm sure many of the other 37 have not been to Kampala either. I was a little frightened by the enclosures for the animals. Some only had 5' high chain link fences between them and us. Doesn't seem real safe to me...at least the lions had an 8' fence, but still it was chain link. But, we weren't eaten by wild animals and we made it through the zoo in 45 minutes. That actually was the plan so we could get to all 3 things in a day.

We ended our time in Kampala at Wonder World - think a county fair and you will have a good picture of this. The kids were totally mesmerized, though, as they have never seen anything like this. I gave our 6 kids Shs2,000 each to buy tickets and go on rides. We spent just over an hour at the amusement park.

Here was the schedule of the day:

• 6:15 am Leave Budaka
• 10:10 Arrive Mandela Nat'l Stadium
• 11:40 Leave stadium and head to zoo
• 1:20 pm Arrive at zoo
• Eat lunch
• Do zoo
• 3:00 pm Leave zoo
• 4:50 pm Arrive at Wonder World
• 6:25 pm Leave Wonder World for Budaka
• 2:15 am Arrive in Budaka

Okay, you might have noticed that it was almost 8 hours to get home - that's where the "It's great to be alive" comment comes in. It took 2 hours to get out of Kampala due to bad traffic - about 15 miles in the 2 hours!! We should have been half way home at this point, but alas, we were only on the outskirts of Kampala (at the Coca Cola factory for all of you who have been to Uganda...). Then, a few miles later we were slowed down by a matatu (minivan taxi) that had been in an accident with a cow - both parties fared poorly in the tangle. Then we were on our way again, only to come upon a LONG line of cars stopped. Apparently there was a bad accident ahead and no vehicles could get through. Did I mention this is the only paved road to Budaka? Well, our driver decided to take a side road, along with all the other cars, matatus and small trucks. All of you 4-wheelers would have loved it! But, late at night in a small bus with 43 kids and 12 adults (26 seats on the bus, by the way) on muddy roads from a recent rain, it was quite treacherous. We had to turn around on 2 occasions because the road was impassable. Imagine a line of 20-30 vehicles on a single lane road in a forest trying to all turn around! Our bus got stuck in the mud and while all the other vehicles kept going we had to get all the kids out and stand on the road for about an hour in the pitch black (thankfully there was a full moon when the clouds parted several times) in mud...oh, and did I mention we were in the Mabira Forest - the only forest in Uganda? Where wild animals, snakes, etc roam? My imagination was running wild, my mouth was praying and my arms were around our kids trying to keep them warm and safe.

So, we finally got out of that situation, continued on the horrible road, almost getting stuck many more times, (prayer life definitely growing in all of us) and rejoiced as we got to the main road. We turned toward home and were excited there was no traffic (it was about 11 pm at this time - we had been scheduled to be back at 8:30)...

until...we found ourselves in a line of cars. We had not circumvented the accident at all. We were back in line (further along the line...but nonetheless back in line) behind the accident. Another hour of sitting and waiting and then we were able to squeeze by the accident. Then found out we were almost out of gas due to the circuitous route we took. Pulled into 3 stations (after midnight) to find no one had diesel. Finally found one and were able to be on our way. Got home at 2:15 am. Oh, did I mention we had had nothing to eat since 1pm, lunch at the zoo??

Okay, there are many more stories surrounding this, but I want to say 2 things:
Thank you to all of you who pray for us regularly. God protected us from peril at many turns.
Doesn't this account make all of you want to come over and visit? HA!

Enough for this week. More of regular life next week! I love you all.

Thanks to all of you Evergreen people who are sacrificing this season to help see that our children's home and the school get built! May God bless all your efforts.

In His care and protection,

Laurie

Nov 7th - Greetings from my home away from home

Oh, boy! So much to share...now to try to get it into a length that can be read in less than a day...

First, I came back late Tuesday night into Entebbe (where the airport is in Uganda - yes, there's only 1), then back to Budaka on Wednesday. Lost luggage, trip back to Kampala the next day. It's at the Brussels Airlines office in Kampala...but it's not...wait 3 hours...oh, yes, we found it here at the office...drive back to Budaka...all the while jet lagging...raining so hard the bridge over the Nile River (about 1/2 way home) was flooded with water up to the underside of the car. Did I mention that this is the ONLY road to Budaka from Kampala? Waiting...ah, Uganda. I remember...

The kids received me with singing and lots of hugs. And, there, in the midst was Moses just smiling up at me. When I lifted him up, he snuggled into my neck. Ah, sweet homecoming!

Church was awesome yesterday! There were well over 130 adults...in a space that is about 20' wide and 40' long. And about 80 kids (sorry - haven't heard the "official" counts yet). When the adult visitors introduced themselves during the service, 4 of the 10 said they had come to receive Jesus as their Savior. By the end of the service, another person came and said he wanted to get saved also. Last week was apparently very similar with 4 people getting saved. We are growing so fast right now...and with new Christians. As Rogers and I met today, we agreed that this next weekend we will talk with the church about 2 things: 1) we will be going to 2 services that are the same and everyone should choose 1 to go to, and 2) as individual members we must ask how we are to help in buying land and building a building. (As most of you know, we have land for the children's home and school - at this point there is not enough room to have the church there also.) I am so excited to see how people respond...many have already come to say we must do something. We will challenge them to be a part of the solution. Please pray with us.

2 weeks before I got home, our Headmaster David's home was broken into and they stole money, his phone, some clothes and my iPod. We use the iPod to play worship songs before and after services, as well as to teach the worship team new songs, both English and Luganda. Anyway, now that is gone - the police are looking, but very little chance it will be returned. If any of you have an iPod that you are no longer using and you'd love to have it used in this way, would you let me know and we will find a way to get it here with the next team that comes.

Saturday School was not this last weekend - we have changed the dates so it happens 1 month in Budaka, 1 in Kabuna and then 1 month we don't have it. Then the cycle repeats. Anyway, on our first not-having-Saturday-School day, just under 120 children showed up. See the picture of some of those kids...Rogers and I talked with them for a few minutes, gave them some crackers and sent them home. (We sang "I Like Bananas"...they all LOVE the song thanks to the Sunnyside team - thanks, guys!) Over half of those who showed up came from Kabuna (about 3 miles away), and they are SO excited we will be doing SS in their village! We also invited them to Sunday School the next day and Rogers said many showed up.

One of the things we got in the States was new (well, gently used anyway) shoes for all the children who had kept their shoes well for the past year. I gave these out to the kids on Saturday. The picture you have is of Sarah, our newest girl. This is her first pair of shoes ever. She has had sandals, but never shoes. She was SO excited, as you can see. The other children in the picture are Charity (in the yellow), William and Charles. Sarah has her trousers rolled up so you can see her shoes.

I also got to show the kids all the things we brought back that they will be able to buy with their allowance "money" in the coming weeks. We didn't "sell" any this weekend, but told them they would be available soon. Monicah told me that only the youngest children bought anything that day - they are waiting to buy the new stuff. This includes the Hot Wheels, stuffed animals, bouncy balls, crazy straws, etc., etc. - all things many of you gave for the kids. Thanks for being part of teaching them responsibility!

One more thing...so many more to say, but will limit it to this last one...you all sent so much VIA that I wasn't sure how many years it would take to drink it all. Abby had a great idea --- I took 150 packets to church yesterday and gave every adult one as a gift from the States. They were thrilled to receive something and to taste an American drink! And, now I estimate I only have 200 left. Enough for some time! I'll let you know their responses to American coffee...

Sure love you all. Thank you for your financial support, prayers, emotional support (through emails, texts and phone calls). The staff this morning saw pictures and videos of many of you and were so encouraged. God bless you.

Laurie

Nov 2nd - quick update

Cornerstone Friends,

2 quick things:

1. They found the luggage just as we arrived back in Budaka. So, we will turn around tomorrow for the 6-8 hour trip to pick it up. Oh, Uganda! (They can bring it here, but then you have several other groups of people with potential sticky fingers...can you have "potential" sticky fingers?...who might help themselves to the kids' shoes, matchbox and hotwheels cars, stuffed animals, etc.)
2. I bought an internet "stick" so I am actually sitting under my mosquito net, in bed, on the internet. What a concept!! So cool. Now, if we could get electricity back again so I can charge my computer when it runs out (in 46 minutes).

Love you all! It's good to be back home.

Laurie

Nov 1st - Back safely

Just a quick note to say I am in Uganda and all went well. Still in Kampala...one piece of luggage lost, so waiting till 11am today when a flight comes in from Rwanda to see if it is on there. Then off to see the kids! (That's a 3-hour drive...on a good day.)

I know I'm back in Uganda because:

• the electricity went off 2 times during the night, came back on, then went off permanently
• it's hot and humid
• at the airport, I was at the lost luggage desk and they tried to get me to take someone else's luggage that looks similar. 

Ah, there's no place like home!

Thanks again to all of you for participating in what God is doing here in Uganda! I will talk with all of you again via email next Monday.

Laurie

Oct 30th - Early update

Greetings on this cool, rainy day in southwestern Washington. I will be leaving tomorrow morning, so decided to send an update today so you don't have to wait 2 weeks till I get settled back into Budaka.

Abby and I have been packing for the past 3 days, getting the most into the 3 suitcases, 50 pounds each. 49.7, 49.8 and 48.0 so far, - have to leave a little as the airline scales are slightly different than mine.

The first picture you have is of the matchbox/Hot Wheels cars, trucks, etc. that all of you donated to my kids. There were a total of 228 vehicles!!! Also, there were 102 stuffed animals (Beanie Babies and small teddy bears). These will be used as allowance prizes and incentives. Thank you all so much. I heard many stories of sacrifice, and wanted to tell you a couple:
one 3-year-old who was busy with TV, came over to see the pictures of my kids, and promptly left the room. After some time, he came back with his dozen or so favorite Hot Wheels and pointed out which car was to go to which boy in the picture.
3 children from one family went through all their things and gave some of their prized toys when they heard that the kids at Cornerstone don't have toys.

I am taking back many legos...we received 40 pounds of various sized legos. I will use these for special times with small groups of kids at my house. They will be great for beginning to teach critical thinking skills.

Many, many of you gave clothing for the kids. Thank you! You can see from the picture that we have a lot - way more than I can take back on this trip. What you can't tell from the picture is that many of the clothes are layered 20 deep on the table. The team that is coming in January will be bringing the rest of it.

I also received 4 world maps and 4 inflatable world globes - those will help so much as we teach the children at school about the bigger world - virtually no schools in Uganda have maps beyond those of their own country.

We got enough underwear for the kids, an ice cream machine for the restaurant, most of the movies I asked for plus many that I hadn't thought about. 31 tennis balls were given, enough for 1 for each child, until a certain little dog found them and took one for herself ;). We got swimming suits, shoes, legos (25 pounds!!), teacher planning books, prizes and toiletries. We actually had so many items donated that we had to use the E! church van to get them up to Washington - it wouldn't all fit in my car!

I'm excited, too, to go back with letters, pictures and videos from students in Texas and Oregon and adults and kids at several churches in Idaho and California.

Many of you bought craft items and calendars to help support the work. Some of you gave monetary gifts. Some of you welcomed us into your homes and families while we were home.

WOW! Thank you all for participating with me in this great venture in Uganda. I feel full and blessed by our Father through you.

Have a wonderful Sunday, and I will be back in touch next Monday from Mbale (unless the electricity is off, the internet isn't working, we can't get to Mbale, or a myriad of other Ugandan reasons ;-).

Love you all!

Laurie


(By the way, we have had to re-order calendars - a great thing! - so, if you didn't get a Cornerstone Calendar and want one, just shoot me an email and we'll make sure to order them for you. They are $20 each and have pictures of the Cornerstone kids, the church, the businesses, etc. They will make great Christmas presents.)

Oct 24th - Monday update

Greetings, Friends and Family!

It's a great day here at the Oregon coast - cold, but fairly clear! Abby and I are here resting for a couple of days before I return to Uganda. It has been a wonderful trip to the States - thank you for all your affirmations about what we are doing, for your blessings of words, clothing and toys for the kids, money and prayers. I feel so full going back.

Welcome to all of you new friends to these emails! You are so welcome to join with us in rejoicing in what God is doing in the children and adults of Budaka.

Both pictures I am sending you today were emailed to me yesterday by Rogers. The first picture is of Moses. Rogers told him the picture was for Teacher Abby and Pastor Laurie, and he smiled for us. All of you who were at the presentations got to see him walking in the video - this boy wants to be just like the other kids. And, according to Monica, he gets his clothes dirty like this at least a couple of times a day! Glad we could share "our" picture with you ;)

The second picture is of our girls washing. Just thought you might like to see how we get our kids' clothes clean. The girls are, from left to right, Margaret (a school boarder), Sarah (our newest child), Natasha and Brenda 1. The woman helping them is Rachel, who we hire part time each month to wash and clean the girls' things so Monica has time to work with allowance and the Wednesday night program for the kids. Those of you who saw Abby and/or me in our gomesi dresses, please note that Rachel has on a gomesi also.

At my home, I hire one of Rogers' older daughters each month to wash my clothes 2x per week. It gives each some money to spend, plus I put money in an account each month for their college education. It works great for all of us: I don't have to spend the hours and back pain to wash and they get money. Great all the way around! And, when I go back in a few days, one of them will spend the night at my house each night so I am not alone (not safe, being one of only 3 foreigners in Budaka).

Well, I am going to go walk on the beach with Abby. Thank you all for your GENEROUS gifts to take back for the kids. Thank you, too, for continuing to pray and listen to how God wants you to be involved in Cornerstone. God bless you today!

Laurie

Oct 21st - Hot Wheels cars

Someone donated a bunch of hot wheels cars in original packaging from his collection (at shows and the like) over the years. I am wondering if any of you know if there is value above what the kids at Cornerstone would get out of them. We have lots of match box and hot wheels cars to take back besides these and don't want to miss the opportunity if it would be better for Cornerstone to sell them to a collector or on ebay or whatever.

If one of you knows about this, shoot me an email.

Thanks.

Laurie

Oct 16th - Suitcase obtained

Thanks for the quick response about the suitcase needed for the trip back. Happy to tell you we have one donated to go back with more things to Budaka.

Laurie

Oct 16th - Early update

Hey, Everyone!

We are leaving in the morning on the next leg of our 3-state trip for Cornerstone, so thought I would get an email off to you tonight (Sunday) before I leave.

I had the privilege of meeting again with all of you in Burley this morning - thanks so much for the clothes, toys and other gifts you gave for the kids in Uganda! What a blessing you are to the ministry. We will head to the Bay Area tomorrow to meet with BAMMers for a few days. Really looking forward to reconnecting with old friends there (REALLY old...you know who you are!). Then back up to Hillsboro for a last weekend at Evergreen. It's been great to do a road trip with Abby as we contemplate being on different continents again for some time.

I have sent you a picture of Mutwahiru...well, actually Mutwahiru's leg and the metal apparatus that has been in there since his second surgery in May. This week, on Thursday, they were able to take the apparatus out as his bone is healing so well. Praise the Lord. Thank you all who have been praying for this boy. He is so happy, as reported by Rogers to me 2 days ago. They will now wait about 8 months-1 year and then begin the process of lengthening his leg. The doctor is very pleased with his progress!

The 2nd picture is of Isaac - just being goofy as he waits for porridge at breakfast. I actually only know he is waiting for porridge because of 2 clues in the picture: 1) the cup in his hand and 2) his clothes and body are clean, meaning he has only been up a short time ;). I love getting these pictures from Rogers when I am in the States - must be how some of you feel when I send pictures of the kids. I just want to see that they are happy and doing well.

The chickens are doing well...none have died. By this time with the last batch of chicks, we already had 20 dead. I think our "chicken man" learned a lot the first time and is doing much better this time. If all goes on schedule, we should have chickens ready to lay by the end of January. I know, I know: Don't count your eggs before they're laid...or something like that.

The school is going well and more parents are paying school fees than last term, so we should have a positive cash flow there within a few more months. Money is coming in, but the upfront money to begin the school and run it the first 2 terms still has them behind. As a business, it should be helping Cornerstone within a year or so.

We are still believing the Lord to bring in the money, supplies, personnel, etc. needed to begin building a home for our kids and the school very soon. Please continue to pray with us about His miraculous provision. To build this first phase of the buildings will be about $150,000. Our God is able and willing. Thanks for trusting Him together with me!

One small thing that perhaps one of you could part with is a used suitcase that can hold up to 50 lbs. Someone has offered to pay for an additional suitcase so I can take a total of 150 lbs (instead of only 100) with me. Do you have an old sturdy suitcase that could find a new home in Uganda? (When I take additional suitcases, and when the teams leave suitcases, we use some for storage and the others we sell to help support Cornerstone.)

Thanks, everyone, for your wonderful encouragements, financial support and prayers for all that is happening with the Cornerstone children in Uganda. I feel your partnership so acutely when I am here in the States and talking with you in small and large groups. May the Lord bless you.

Laurie

Oct 13th - Website help

Richard, who created and has maintained our website so well for the past 2 years needs to give his attention to other things now. Thanks, Richard!

If any of you have time to help Cornerstone, and have skills for designing/keeping up a website, please let me know! You can see the current website at www.cornerstoneministriesuganda.org. Would love to get this going before I go back to Uganda in a couple of weeks.

Thanks, everyone!

Laurie

Oct 12th - Wednesday update

Greetings from Eugene, Oregon! We have been here for 3 days and will leave today, heading for Burley, Idaho! I had the chance to speak at Day Spring Fellowship on Sunday, then to go to 2 schools, a preschool in Eugene and an elementary school in Elmira. The first picture you have is of Abby and I with the preschool class. We have had a great time with family, at Day Spring, the schools and with many of you we have been able to meet individually. Thank you all for your support of Cornerstone and the kids in Budaka!

The second picture is of a school in Austin where we shared with all the 3rd graders. We showed pictures and had a table with items made by Ugandans. The kids got to file past and look at all the stuff, as you can see.

Great news from Rogers: 6 of our kids were selected to be on a radio program in Budaka. The host interviewed them about their experiences at Cornerstone Children's Home and Cornerstone Learning Centre (the school). He said he keeps getting calls from people who heard the broadcast, asking about having their children at the school. People have been amazed at how well our children present themselves, and how good their English is! Basically, this became free advertising for the school. We are praising God for it.

Would you pray with us for Sarah, our newest child? Although the sore on her leg is healing, another patch has begun on another part of her leg. Betty (Rogers' wife) will be taking her back to the doctor today to find out what is going on. Also, the medicine she was taking began making her sick, so we need to find something that will help her without making her sick. Please pray for her today.

Mutwahiru goes back to his hospital tomorrow - please pray for the trip (4 hours) and that the doctors will have wisdom. We are hoping he will get the metal apparatus out of his leg this time. The plan is that once the apparatus is out, they will wait about 8 months and then begin the process of lengthening his leg. The doctor has told Mutwahiru that he will play football (soccer) again, and he is really excited!

Thank you all for your support and encouragement in our endeavors in Budaka. God is at work...and we get to be a part of what He is doing there. Have a great day!

Laurie

Oct 7th - Greetings from Austin!

It's early Friday morning and I woke up thinking about all of you and the great work that God is doing through all of us doing our part to see His Kingdom established in the lives and hearts of the people of Budaka. Thank you for being a part of that, even by reading these emails and praying for the work!

I have included 2 pictures today to show you the contrast between just one of our children. The first picture is of Moses when we found him and his siblings (Natasha, Vanessa and Isaac) fending for themselves. Many of you will remember that Moses was only days from death at this time. The second picture shows the amazing work God has done as you see Moses, after 1 year, being goofy at the camps in August. The team made tissue paper flowers with the kids, and this is what Moses did with his (with a little help from someone, I think!). God has done a great work through all of us to bring this child to this point, don't you think??

As I get to travel in the States, it's been so exciting to see all of you and feel that partnership with you in person. Thank you all for your warm welcomes and your participation in the Gospel.

Yesterday, we were able to go to 2 schools here in Austin to share with children (130 3rd graders in one and 60 K-6th graders in the other) and staff about our kids in Budaka at Cornerstone. We showed pictures and videos, displayed arts and crafts made by the Ugandans and handled Ugandan money. Our goal is for the children to 1) know about our kids, 2) know about a bigger world and 3) get a heart for the work that needs to be done. The children at one of the schools had collected t-shirts for our kids - there were 4 or 5 large bags of t-shirts. Thanks, Eliza!

On Tuesday, we got to be with a group of people in Vancouver, Washington to share about the work. It was great to share in the work together with these wonderful saints! Thanks, Donna and Arla, for setting up that time.

On Sunday, we got to share at both services in Clackamas, Oregon and then be with the team that came over in August. In between these meetings have been many one-on-one meetings, and it has been so great to see all of you and to meet all you new people who are coming on board.

I'm excited to get to see you Eugene, Burley and Fremont people very soon also!

Things are going well in Budaka. Rogers and I talk and email often during this time. We have several kids who have been sick with malaria, but all are on the mend now. Rogers reported that someone tried to break into my house a couple of days ago, but our night guard saw it and chased him off. They weren't able to catch him, but we're sure the word is out now that someone is guarding the house! Please pray for physical protection for the kids, for Rogers and his family and for me as I return.

Also, 3 of the people from the church in Budaka have lost family members during this past week, so I trust you will join me in praying for comfort for them. They are Difusi, George and a woman who got saved 2 weeks ago. Each lost a close family member.

God bless you as you continue to do His work...in His way! Thank you for all you do for Cornerstone!

Laurie

Sept 29 - a couple of things to take back

Thanks so much to the many of you who are collecting legos and duplos, matchbox cars and small boys clothing for the kids when I go back. You all are such a blessing to Cornerstone!

Just thought I'd let you know a couple of other things I am looking for to take back either for the restaurant, the church or the Cornerstone Kids. Here they are:

• a small ice cream machine that makes like a quart or something. Has to be small to fit in my carry-on luggage. I can buy fresh milk/cream there, and thought with the delicious mangoes, bananas, jackfruit, and pineapple, it would be a great thing to be able to sell ice cream at the restaurant.
• printer cartridges - we have one more color (HP95) and are on the last black (HP94). We have a great copier (thanks, Toni!) that works for several hours after being charged without having to be plugged in - perfect for our electricity on-and-off situation. Anyway, looking for the printer cartridges to take back. 
• twistie ties for bread pkgs - so, when you can get bread there, they twist the end of the plastic bag, then punch a hole in the plastic and push the end through the hole. Let's just say we get lots of little bugs in our bread...So, I thought having some of those twistie ties would be great, and they don't weigh much. 
• a world map or inflatable globe (is there such a thing??). I want the kids to be able to see their part of the whole world. I want them to think bigger than just Uganda and to see the relationship Uganda has to the rest of the earth. 

I think that's the end of the wish list for things to take back. If I think of something else, I'll let you know. Thanks to all of you for your heart for my kids and the work of God in Budaka!

BTW - welcome to our 10 newcomers to these email updates. We're so glad you came on board.

Laurie

Sept 27 - In the States

Greetings from Winlock, Washington! It's so great to be back in the land of running water, English speakers and non-potholed roads!! (Okay, there are so many other things I could list, but just starting with those 3.) Now if the jet lag would just leave me alone...

We had a great weekend at Evergreen Christian Center in Hillsboro, visiting with old friends, meeting new friends and getting to show some pictures and videos of what's happening in Budaka. Thanks, Pastors Ann and Jared, for letting us be with you.

I will be in the States for about 4 weeks and will be heading to Burley (Idaho), Eugene (Oregon), Austin (Texas) and Fremont (California) and many places inbetween! Then back to my kids and the work in Uganda.

The first picture this week is of Sarah, who it looks like will be #31 - we weren't really planning to have another child yet, but there is a great need here and both Rogers and I looked at each other and felt the same thing - she is to be one of us. We met her at camp when the Sunnyside team was here. Nurse Lydia saw the wound on her leg (perhaps you can see it on her left leg near the ankle) and decided this girl needed medical attention. Sarah has had this wound for 2 years and it just wasn't getting better. So, Lydia left money for it to get fixed. Sarah's family, apparently, wouldn't let her come to get treatment for a couple of weeks. We're not sure what was happening with that, but we know that they are Muslim, so maybe it had to do with not wanting her to change religions. Anyway, she finally came last Monday and we took her to Mbale. The doctor did surgery and the leg is looking SO much better! The doctor's strong words were "this girl needs a high protein diet for this to get well!" So, she is at Cornerstone for at least 2 weeks and her grandmother, who has cared for her for the past 10 years of her life, is not able to feed or clothe her well and is glad for the opportunity for her to be with us. I'll let you know if this becomes permanent, but it is looking like it will be. We had said these things:

• we will not take any more children till we have a bigger place
• we will not take any children over 7 years old

Isn't God clever?? He goes beyond our own understanding.

The second picture is of a sunset a couple of days before I left - it was like the sun was on fire, burning up the sky. I took the picture standing outside the orphanage and looking down the road toward Pastor Rogers' house. We see so many amazing natural things like this in Uganda! I was talking with Matt on Sunday about the stars at night in Uganda - you can see stars almost to the horizon at night when the electricity is off...most of the time ;)...I wish I could get a picture to show you how incredible the sky is at night!

Abby is with me and will be traveling to all our in-the-U.S. destinations and then will be staying in the States for some time before returning to Budaka. I will miss her terribly in Budaka, and the kids are really upset she's not coming back with me. She told them she had to obey the Lord's direction, that He had shown her this was the next step for her. On her last couple of days, then, several of them came and said they were praying about it and the Lord told THEM that she was supposed to stay in Uganda. Ha! They are so going to miss her interaction throughout the days, her leading Sunday School and Saturday School, overseeing allowance time, etc, etc!!

Okay, as always, I could go on and on, but let's put a comma here and I will talk with you again next week...from Hillsboro I think, then Eugene the next week (Texas inbetween), then Burley, then Fremont, then Belgium on my way home to Budaka!

The calendars are here (thanks, Matt!), so let me know if you want some. I have many orders already...and we can reprint as necessary. They are $20 each and the proceeds all go to support Cornerstone Uganda Ministries.

Love you all and hope to see most, if not all of you before I go back. Thanks for all the love and support!

Laurie

Sep 19th - Great and scary things...

Greetings from the slow internet!! Hopefully at least one picture will upload while I am writing this, but maybe not...It's one of those days in Uganda - no internet at the usual place, 2nd place - apparently haven't paid their bill for a week, so no internet. Now, 3rd place and it's off and on. We'll see how this goes!

If you do get the picture, you will see all our children who received new clothes (gently used clothing from many of you!) on Sunday afternoon. We told the kids in the middle of August that if they kept their school shoes very well for 2 months, we would give them one additional outfit. They currently all have 5 outfits - 2 uniforms for school, 2 play outfits and 1 outfit for church. So, those who were careful with their shoes would get one more outfit for church. I'm happy to report that 20 of our 30 kids got new outfits! (You will see 21 kids in the picture - we did give Moses a new pair of pants, even though he doesn't actually have school shoes!) Any of you who are parents will recognize the positive reinforcement we are trying here - and boy, did it work well!! The other 9 children were sad...some even crying...that they did not get to have a new outfit. We first had a meeting with all the children in which we gave out the clothes. Then, while the picture was being taken by Abby, Rogers and I met with the 9 and talked with them about how they might be able to also get new clothes - we will give them some hand-me-down shoes in a month or so and if they keep them well for 2 months we will see about adding an outfit for them. So, there is hope for them, but they really learned the lesson! We will see now how they keep their shoes.

Thanks so much for the clothes you sent with us! We actually have SO many that we are starting a clothing area in our house where we will keep clothes ready for when kids outgrow theirs. We do need some smaller boys' pants and shorts, though. If any of you have like sizes 3-6 boys gently used pants, let me know.

Another thing I am wondering: do any of you have legos that your children are finished playing with? We bought some blocks like duplos here and they crack and break when you try to put them together. I'm hoping to get a lead on some legos and see how to get them here.

As I think of it, a couple other things: some matchbox cars (the boys LOVE these for allowance prizes, and we are just about out of the ones I brought) and some kids' movies.

One kind of scary thing that happened this week: we took the next 3 kids who had earned enough with allowance to go swimming in Mbale. Everything was great...well, except the rain and thunder during the swim time - way cold for Ugandan children!! and for Abby. But, on the way home, we were turning from the main road (called a tarmac here) to go to our house and a speeding matatu (mini van taxi) decided that was the time to pass on the right. As Rogers turned the car, the matatu crashed into his side. We sort of bounced off the matatu and Rogers was quite level-headed and kept control of the car. He pulled into the petrol station across the street. Charles, one of our boys, was really shaken up and began throwing up in the car. Abby quickly got the kids together and walked them up to their home. The driver of the matatu continued, but was stopped by the traffic police stop up a ways and returned. The driver got out and started yelling at me, saying I didn't have my indicator on, was on the phone while driving, was driving crazy, etc. I let him rant, then calmly said, "I wasn't driving." Anyway, as of today, the police have determined it was his fault and he is paying all expenses for the car to get fixed...front right panel, front right door, headlamps all have to be replaced. Total cost - Shs250,000=\. Okay, for all of you dollars people - that's about $115.

Please pray for all 6 of us who were in the car - Charles, Ronald and Oliver, as well as Abby, Rogers and me. We were all pretty shaken up. And pray that our future journeys will be safe!!

Thank you to all of you who prayed and continue praying for us!

BTW - before I began speaking yesterday at church, I felt the Lord nudge me that someone there needed to get saved. One of our members, George, had invited a neighbor and she raised her hand and received Jesus. She has been involved in witchcraft to try to get what she needs, and now is depending on the Lord. Please pray for this new sister - Christine.

Okay, got to go now. I sure appreciate all of you who continue to support us in so many ways!! God bless you.

Laurie

Sep 12th - Monday update

Greetings from Chat 'n' Chino cafe - a new place in Mbale that has FAST internet. So cool. It does go down occasionally (4 times in 3 hours last week), but overall is the best place I've found! Pastor Rogers is shopping with Betty (his wife) for the orphanage and then we are heading back to Budaka early today as it is time to take Mutwahiru for his 6-week check up...and hopefully when they will take the metal apparatus out of his leg. They have to leave today by 2pm to make it to Kampala, get a hotel and be at the clinic in the morning by 7 - it's first-come-first-serve, so we try to be really early!

The first picture today is of Natasha, Hellen and Brenda. They were waiting to leave for Mbale last Saturday. All 3 had saved up their allowance (Cornerstone cash) for a trip to Mbale to go out for lunch (their first time at a restaurant), then to Mt. Elgon Hotel for swimming (again, a first for all of them). It was SUCH a big thing! I have included a picture, too, of Brenda in the pool. They splashed and laughed with Abby in the pool for 1 hour - I sat on the side and encouraged them from a safe distance ;). The hotel has swimming "costumes" for rent - I think I will look for some when in the States - so they all could be in the appropriate gear. 3 of the boys get to go this weekend with us - I hope to send pics of them next week.

A reminder that we have Cornerstone calendars for 2012 available - they will be $20 each and have pictures of the work in Budaka, and individual pictures of each of our 30 kids so you can see and be reminded to pray for them during this next year. I have several orders, and will be able to deliver calendars by mid-October. Let me know if you would be willing to either buy some (they make great Christmas gifts, for those of you planning early!) or sell them at your church, school or work. This is another one of our streams of business income for Cornerstone Uganda Ministries. Please email me if you are interested!

I must go now - hoping to hear from all of you. Thanks for the emails this last week from so many. I will go now and see if I can answer most of them. God bless you! Thank you for your continued support in prayer, finances and encouragement.

In His great love,

Laurie

Sept 5th - Monday update

Greetings, Friends!

It's been awhile since I have sent out a regular Monday email - thanks to all of you who have written, wondering if everything is okay. Yes, we are okay! We had the team from Sunnyside Foursquare with us for the past 2 weeks, so didn't have time to make it to Mbale regularly. The team was such a blessing!! Here are some highlights:

• 10 people came to do camps in Kabuna and Budaka with 100 children and 113 respectively. (I have included a picture of the Budaka camp - the kids are eating their breakfast (porridge and a piece of bread) inside Soul Harvest Church - a building that is connected to our kitchen and play area. I have also included a picture of the team on their way home when we visited the equator.
• They stayed in the other side of our house during their time in Budaka, so were close for getting ready for camps, worshiping together, talking and playing games. (Thanks, Jordan, for loving Scrabble!!)
• Their leaders (Ric and Chris) were wonderful. Thanks, guys!
• All 10 either taught in church, shared their testimony for the church and/or worked with the kids in Sunday School...on both Sundays they were here. 1/2 even went to another church in Budaka and did the same things.
• They brought all the things we were unable to bring in our luggage the last time. Such a blessing for our kids, the school, the church. It was like Christmas, opening all those suitcases. Thanks to all of you who contributed stuff to our kids, the restaurant and the school. We are overwhelmed!
• All 10 of you made the experience of having a team a great one!! 

A couple of other things that are happening:

• We have received enough VIA for about 3 months. Thank you so much to all of you who have sent some - even got another 2 packages from Evergreen today! Every morning that I have coffee, I think about all of you and your great kindness to get us a little taste of home - some of you even remembered that sometimes we drink decaf. Very cool! Thank you.
• We had 115 adults in church last week and 110 kids! It maxes out the 2 rooms (well, for America, they would have been maxed long ago, but in Uganda, if you can fit another chair or mat in, you have room. No fire restrictions here!!) The kids' room is about 30'x30', the adult room is not quite double that size, 30'x50'. 
• School began today - 3rd (and last) term this year. A little more than 1/2 of the kids showed up - pretty normal for the first day in Ugandan schools.
• We harvested the maize from our field and should get about 30 100kg sacks to use and sell. As many of you know, this is one of the revenue sources we began in order to support the Cornerstone work. 
• We will be buying 200 chicks in the next week to raise for laying eggs - another revenue source.
• Inflation has hit 21.4% here in Uganda. Please pray for those in the church as this cuts their buying power by 1/4! Many are having to choose between important necessities like soap, more than one meal a day, etc. (This hits us at the orphanage and school as well: posho, one of our staple foods for the kids, has risen from Shs110,000=/ in November 2010 to Shs170,000=/ today. We go through 100kg in 1 1/2 weeks.) Please pray as we see our way forward with God in charge!
• The business man who owns the property we are in for the orphanage and school has just given us a letter (last week) saying he is raising our rent by 50% in 2012. There is no way this fits within our budget, so we are asking the Lord to give us money to build the buildings on the land we have acquired. We have the architect's work done and are waiting for the money now to be able to build. Please pray that these funds will be available in enough time to build before January. If you know of someone who might be interested in giving toward this special project, please have them contact me. We still need about $170,000 to have our kids' home and the school rooms built. My God owns the cattle on a thousand hills - I'm asking Him to sell a few...Will you join me?

I love you all so much...and as always, could keep going and going, but let me put a comma in my stories. I'd love to hear from you! Thank you for your continued prayer and financial support. We are working hard to have the businesses support the ministry - our goal of being self-supporting in 2 years culminates in January. I don't think we will be totally there, but we are definitely on our way! Thank you for continuing to support as we head to our goal.

God bless you!

Laurie

Aug 18th - A quick note (Cornerstone Calendar info)

Hey, Everyone!

We traveled to Kampala today to pick up the team from Sunnyside Foursquare Church. They will be here in about 6 hours. We are all so excited to receive them. Our Cornerstone Kids have songs and dances ready for them when they arrive in Budaka tomorrow, Friday, just after lunchtime. The kids have had one team members' name this past week and have been praying especially for that person as they come.

The kids in Kabuna (one of the day camps we will do) came yesterday to register - we have room for 100 kids and 300 showed up! That camp begins on Monday and runs 3 days from 9am-3pm each day. Actually, we begin at 8am feeding them porridge for breakfast. We also feed them a great lunch - palau (sp?) rice and meat sauce. I wasn't able to go out to Kabuna, but Abby told me it was heartbreaking to see the poverty and then have to turn kids away who we know need the food and would have so much fun at camp.

The other camp begins on Friday in Budaka and will run 4 days - Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday. Same timing and meals. Please pray with us that kids will be touched for eternity during these camps.

I have included a picture of Rogers talking to the kids in Kabuna about the camp. This shows about 1/2 of the 100 kids. They are dressed in their Sunday best!

The 2nd picture is the line of kids waiting, hoping they will get a spot in the camp. Please note how many do not have shoes...and remember, these are their best clothes. The ones without shoes have none. I am always so touched when I am out in one of the villages at the extreme poverty. For most of these children they have 2 sets of clothes (some only 1!) - one for church and the other for every other day.

A request for all of you:

We have a Cornerstone Calendar made for 2012 which we would like to sell in the States as another small business venture for Cornerstone. Thank you to Matt, who has put the whole thing together for us with pictures of the work in Budaka, individual kids' pictures on Sundays so you can have someone to pray for all week, Ugandan holidays, pictures of significant events in the life of Cornerstone, etc. American holidays are also listed and there is space for you to fill in appts, etc. Would you be willing to take several and sell them at your church, your work, to your family, neighbors or whomever you think might be interested? We will have a definite cost soon, but are thinking we will sell them for $20 each. Please email me and let me know of your interest so we know how many to have printed. There are just about 200 of you on the email list right now and if even half of you could sell 10 each, that would bring us enough income for 2-3 months operation of the orphanage, help us begin the building of the school, and/or give us money to invest in the other businesses for long term support. The calendars will be ready by the end of September...and would make wonderful Christmas presents ;).

I want to say thank you to all of you who continue to support us financially, who encourage us through emails, packages and snail mail and text us with encouraging words. You all have been such a blessing to me in this past year and a half. May God continue to bless you.

In His great and sustaining love,

Laurie

Aug 8th - It's Monday...

Greetings, Everyone!

It's actually a very cool day today. This morning at 5am, it was only 71 degrees in my room. BRRRRR. Almost wished for 2 blankets on my bed. Almost...

At Saturday School, we had to come up with some new rules that will be implemented next month: no more babies or young children (like under 3) can come anymore. We must have cleaned up 4 pee puddles (sorry for all you faint-hearted...actually here we say "someone urinated" or "someone defecated"), had many young children crying, had all the young ones sitting on the stage because they aren't old enough to play the games, etc. So, no more young children or babies. There was even a baby who couldn't have been more than 6 weeks old with an older sister!

The other new rule is if anyone comes after 11am, they will have to wait till the next month to stay. What is happening is, children realize we give biscuits and juice at the end, so they come only for that part. We'll have to see how it goes next month!

We had 197 kids this time...perhaps only 150 if they can't bring younger siblings next month. I have sent you a picture of 4 of our kids helping carry all the things down for Saturday School. From left they are: David, carrying 50 cups in the bag and a jerry can for the juice (it's empty at this point); John with a box of biscuits on his head (120 pkgs) and 50 cups; Dovico with a jerry can and cups and Natasha with the packets of powdered juice - they don't look heavy, but she actually had the heaviest load of the 4! They all came up to our house where we store all the Saturday School stuff, and took things down for us.

For the team - you 10 know who you are! - coming in less than 2 weeks, the 2nd picture is of the man who we paid to dig the drainage for your bathing room. This is just outside the western side of our house. There will be a drain in the bathing room and the pipe will go to this hole, which will be filled now with rocks and an iron sheet on top, then some wooden planks and dirt on top of that. And voila! a drainage pit for your bathing water! Pretty cool, huh? It took him about 6 hours to dig the pit. (He was paid Shs40,000, or less than $20 - a good wage for this work!) He was so tickled that I took his picture and when he saw it on the computer, he laughed at seeing himself.

Mutwahiru is doing well - his leg is healing nicely and he may even get the metal contraption off his leg in about 6 weeks. The only thing is, he needs to stop kicking the soccer ball when the boys are playing. He SO wants to be one of the kids! But, he could wreck the work on his leg so far, so we're keeping him from kicking these days.

We have decided to wait on the Jinja trip with the kids until December - too much going on at the end of this term with the camps, Americans being here, etc.

We will be getting some new chickens in about 3 weeks - please pray that we succeed in this business venture! Our maize should be ready next week...we're planting cotton this week...so many things...our eggplants and tomatoes are being used daily now...sure am learning a lot about agriculture and small businesses!!!

Okay, I'm going to FB now - going to try to download some videos from Saturday School.

Love you all, and am so glad to be partnering with you. There is a possibility I will be home for a couple of weeks in September. If so, I hope to see as many of you as possible and say thank you in person!

God bless you!

Laurie

Aug 1st - Update from Kampala this time

Friends and Family:

We came to Kampala yesterday in order to be able to take Mutwahiru to his doctor's check up this morning, so I am writing to you from a fast Internet connection! We're so excited to see how Mutwahiru's leg is doing. He seems to be doing so well, he is doing his exercises each day and gets around great at the orphanage. He and the children get along really well – of course, they already knew him as he has been at Sunday School and Saturday School for many months with us.

We have found 3 potential sites in Kabuna for one of our August camps. I have included a picture of a part of one of the sites. It's a grade school run by the Anglican church in Uganda. As you can see, some of their classrooms are outside. We took this picture as we drove by – we are always such a distraction to the village children with our white skin! We will be having a camp in Budaka and one in Kabuna, each for 100 children. The team from Sunnyside Foursquare will be running the camps and we will be facilitating their team of 10. We (Abby and I, as well as all the kids, the staff of Cornerstone, the church and the community of Budaka) are SO excited that they are coming.

The 2nd picture is of 3 of the 4 members of our computer class this past term. We had our last class on Thursday as the term ends next week and they are taking exams now. The kids are, from the left, Brenda, Natasha and Benjamin (one of the day scholars). The one not showing is Ronald. We used our 2 laptops and each got about 10 minutes per week, after the teaching time, to work on the computer. It's been great! We hope to continue. The kids who are day scholars have to pay to take the class, but they first have to have paid all their school fees, so not many have been able to participate. But, they all want to be in there SO bad. It's another (small) money-making venture for Cornerstone...and fun for Abby and I to teach together.

Thank you to all who have been praying for Oliver (she's out of the hospital and doing great now) and Rogers (has typhoid, but is able to function fairly well). Typhoid is difficult to get rid of, apparently, and he feels better, then gets muscle aches, nausea and headaches after a week of feeling well. So, we continue to pray. Thanks for praying with us. No more mumps so far, and the only medical situations at the orphanage right now are eye infections. We have 3-4 kids who get these periodically.

The restaurant bids have come in and we are working with one builder Rogers has known for several years - he has the best bid and is able to come here from western Uganda to work with us. It's great to work with someone you already trust!! Hopefully, within a week or two of the Sunnyside team being here, we will begin the restaurant building. As you know from previous emails (and my life, for those who know me better), I HATE waiting for things, so this has been a patience builder...

We are hoping to take the kids (after the school term is over) on a trip to the Nile River. It will be a one-day trip to see a different part of Uganda. The last time (and only other time...) we took them east of Budaka to Sipi Falls up at Mount Elgon. This time we will head west about 2 hours to Jinja, the city where the headwaters of the Nile are. Should be fun to tie it into their geography lessons, social studies, and Bible stories. Thanks to 2 of you who are helping to make this trip happen financially.

I so appreciate all of you and your financial support, prayer covering and email connectedness! God works all things together for our good - yours, mine and the people of Budaka! Thank you.

In His great love,

Laurie