Apr 26th Update - He Is Risen!!

I trust you all had a great Easter! We also had a wonderful time here in Uganda. We had a short service (only 2 hours and 15 minutes!) so people could go home and finish preparing their meals. Easter and Christmas are known for lots of food here - kind of like Thanksgiving there at home. The adult and children's services were both full of the life of God. A small group of our children had prepared a song for the adults and they came in and performed for us. I have a video, but, alas, I cannot send it via email.

The first picture you have is of our kids on Sunday afternoon with the cake they got as a special treat for Easter. We first ate a very large lunch of matooke, macaroons (that's what they call spaghetti noodles here), pork in a broth, chapatti (like a tortilla) and water to drink. The children then went for a rest time in their rooms. Afterward, we played games with them that Abby had planned. The last game was a treasure hunt (new concept for them, but oh, so fun!) which ended with the treasure of a cake and soda. This was about 2 hours after the lunch. The kids all looked at the cake and cheered, then asked if we could wait to eat it as they were still "satisfied." We would say "so full." So, we went and watched Finding Nemo with them. After that, they were ready for the cake and soda. Thank you so much to all of you who support this ministry...your gifts give them not only their regular food, but on days like this very special foods that others are enjoying but they would not be able to have except for you. THANK YOU! All the kids thanked the Lord, and then prayed for you.

Ben, Brenda, Rogers, Abby
and Monicah at Sipi Falls

The second picture is of Ben and Brenda with Rogers, Abby and Monicah (the matron for the girls at the orphanage) yesterday at Sipi Falls. The kids got to go 2 at a time out over the flowing water, walking on the rocks, to see the waterfall at a closer distance. For all our kids, this was the first time they had seen a waterfall. Actually, there were so many firsts for our kids yesterday, I think I should list them:

• first ride in a bus
• first time out of Budaka District
• first time to see Mbale (the "big" town near us)
• first time to meet people who didn't speak their language
• first time to be up so high that "all those people look like rats down there!"
• first time to be on a mountain
• first time to be carsick (only 2 of them...)
• first time to be scared of heights going up the side of a mountain (about 1/2 of the children and 2 of the adults)

It was such a wonderful day! The children were continually amazed by the new experiences. We went to 2 different waterfalls - Sipi Falls and Syipi Falls. I overheard Brenda telling the younger kids: "You can go over that waterfall and it won't kill you." I turned and corrected her perception - thankfully we were not at the top where someone might have tried out her supposition. Then, Natasha asked me, "But, would Jesus die if He went over the waterfall??"

We set up lunch (our cooks had made it so we could take it with us), began serving and suddenly had a deluge of rain. So, we all ran with the food, some with their plates and got back on the bus to eat. Then we waited...and waited...and waited for the rain to subside. Finally, after about an hour we were able to head up the hill to the waterfall. The paths were quite slick and more than one of us went down on the way. Charity bit the dust (mud?) at least 2 times...full frontal fall once. We were so muddy and wet on the way home, but everyone continued singing and talking excitedly. (Margret began saying, "are we in Budaka yet?" within 2 minutes of leaving, and continued throughout the trip home!)
On other notes

• I have finally finished about 12 hours of repairing clothing so our kids can look "smart" again.
• The day schoolers and boarders are all home until May 23rd, so we have special things for our kids each day.
• The rains have come with a vengeance...and we are SO glad. Now all the plants are coming up and we have re-planted the parts that had dried up.
• Political disturbances seem to be settling down.
• Brenda and Hellen (who spent the night on Friday night) have decided to live at our house...HA!
• Isaac (4 years old) has decided he wants to live in a bus for the rest of his life
• Our house still doesn't have electricity, but the owner every week comes by to tell me "It will be this week!"
• We are this week renting the land for the restaurant. I will be sending pics to the team that is coming of buildings that I think would be great. Turns out we could build our own place on rented land for much cheaper than re-doing a building we would rent. Anxious to see how this turns out.
• The chickens should start laying in about 4 weeks. We still have about 140 - haven't heard an exact count this week.
• We are having a water baptism service this Friday morning - taxiing everyone to Mbale. We have 19 as of Sunday. I will have pictures.

I am going to send a couple more emails with more pictures of our trip, but I think this will end the text. Again, thank you all so much for sharing in this ministry in prayer, finances and emotional support (emails!). Thank you from the whole Cornerstone family here! We love you!

Laurie

Easter Pictures. 

First pic - our kids at Sunday School on Easter. (There are few extras in there too!)

Second pic - Moses walking with Abby outside the kids' rooms. The holes in his pants are because he scoots on his bottom everywhere and wears through the pants. Then they turn them around so he can wear through the other side!
Enjoy...more pics on the way.

First pic - the kids on the coaster (bus) yesterday when we were setting out. Didn't look quite this good when we were on our way home :-)

Second pic - some of the kids at the base of Sipi Falls. Note the look on Brenda's face - several were quite scared of the falls and the height and the path and...well, all the new experiences!

First pic - Abby leading her group of kids across the rickety bridge - we walked and the bus drove by itself, then we re-loaded. So much faith required here...in so many ways
Second pic - William and Johnson's turn on the rocks with adults David, Abby, Rogers and Geofrey. Notice the look on William's face and Johnson holding on to the rock - all were trying to be brave, but that water was rushing by quickly and they were way up there! (Don't you love that even when we go to outings like this, girls and women have to wear dresses and skirts!! Brave Abby to climb the rocks in a skirt!)

Apr 22nd Update

Just a quick note to all of you to say HI from Mbale. The internet is working great today, so thought I'd send you a note and 2 pictures. The first picture is of a moth outside my room - just loved the pattern and colors.
The second picture is of Moses cooling his tea down at breakfast. How many 2- or 3-year-olds in America can cool down a hot drink? He's really growing and becoming much more like a little boy, not a baby.
I will not be sending the regular update till Tuesday as the children and 7 of us adults will be at Sipi Falls on Monday all day. We have hired a coaster (bus) and will be taking our lunch with us (rice and beans) and taking all 24 kids to see the falls. For most of them, this will be their first time in a coaster and first time to see a waterfall. Should be great. I will have pictures for you Tuesday.
Thanks for all your support in finances, emails and prayers. God is using you in our lives!
Love you!

Laurie

Moses

Apr 18th Update

Natasha and Brenda

Just saw this picture and thought you'd enjoy seeing Natasha and Brenda in almost matching clothing. They are at Sunday School last Sunday. To the right of Natasha is Vanessa, and just to the left of Brenda you can see Moses looking out. Isn't he getting big? Next to him is Christine. The others in the pictures are Sunday School kids.

Laurie

Apr 18th Update

Greetings from the side of the world that is enjoying the sun right now, while all of you are sleeping! It's been cooler the past few days - I know I'm in Uganda when I think 83 is cool. It has not been above 95 for a few days. Cool!

Mutwahiru and Rogers

The first picture this week is of Mutwahiru and Rogers. We went to see him this past week and found that he is doing really well. He had to go back and get the cast replaced, and will have it on 1 more month, but the bones are healing together. The whole time I've known him (all of this past year), I had never seen him smile, but I saw him smile several times when we were there. I asked his father how long he had had the broken leg - it has been 2 years. He is so happy after 2 years of pain with every step...he now will be able to walk and run like a normal little boy. By the way, I also found he is a middle child of 8. 

Rogers at Kakoro
Painted Rocks

The second picture is of Kakoro Painted Rocks, which is about 25 miles from Budaka (northeast). The websites say they were painted by people about 1,000 years ago. Pastor Rogers, Abby and I went to check them out to see if we wanted this to be a trip we take our kids and/or the school to. However, we never found the painted part and the path to the top is extremely steep with lots of loose dirt to slip on. There are no signs for getting there, so we kept stopping and asking farmers, merchants and boda boda (motorcycle taxi drivers) how to get there. The 25 miles took well over an hour, with some backtracking. The man who led Rogers and Abby to the top (I opted out 1/2 way up...) said he knew where they were at the beginning, but after getting up there he asked "what color are they?", obviously not knowing what we were looking for. One of the websites says the rocks have lost some of their paint due to school children and farm animals brushing against them. I can't imagine any farm animals getting up the side of the hill we were on, so we will try another time and see if we can find the actual paintings. But, the rocks at the top were amazing. You can see the one behind Rogers is balancing on a very small part - looks like it could fall over at any time.

Abby and I have begun having 2 of the kids every Friday night to eat an American dinner, play games, watch a movie (Ice Age) and spend the night with American pancakes for breakfast (even found maple syrup here!). 

This past Friday we had Ben and Charles. It is so great to get to spend more individual time with them. Charles and I walked to town on Saturday morning to find milk (never did find it - after a 2-mile walk) and Abby stayed and played games with Ben. Each of these children is loved individually by our Father and by us!

School ends on Wednesday and I am anxious to have time with just our orphans for a couple of weeks. They all will go to their "homes" from May 2-5 so they can reconnect with their clans. The four who have no place to go (Natasha, Vanessa, Isaac and Moses) will stay and get lots of special attention during those days.

It's great to get to the internet and get notes from many of you. Thank you for remembering and praying for us! I love reading about your lives and what "normal" life is like. Talk to you again in a week or so!

Laurie

Apr 11th Update

My Friends -
The internet has just come up after 2 hours of being down, so will try to get this out before it goes down again. Electricity has been out for 3 days in all of eastern Uganda, but I am at a hotel that has a generator so am plugged in right now. Woohoo!

Anyone know what
type of snake this is?

Most recent news first: last night we had another snake at the orphanage. You have a picture of it. This is the same kind I killed by accident last year. It is a sort of khaki color that is shimmery. There are blues and greens with this kind of silvery shimmery color. Anyone know what the name is? All I know is that it is a "very poisonous" snake. Geofrey killed it when the kids told him it was in one of the school classrooms last night. 2 children were in there, but one saw it and got the other out (great job, Ronald!!) and then called Geofrey. So glad they didn't call me to kill it :-). Trust me that Abby and I are using our flashlights as soon as it is dusky!!!

The school now has 107 students (including our 23). I have included a picture of them at one of their 2x/wk assemblies at the beginning of the day. Things are going well - the kids have exams this week and then they will have 3 weeks off. That will be a great time to reconnect with the orphans as a family - because of our facilities, they are a part of the boarders for the school and not able to have their own identity as a group. We will be taking our kids for a fun trip to Sipi Falls, about 2 hours from us up on the side of Mt. Elgon. Our kids (except for Natasha and her siblings) have never been out of the Budaka District, most not more than 5 miles from their homes, so this will be a BIG trip for them. They will get to see a lot of the countryside. Abby went with Rogers and his family a couple of years ago and it was the first time Betty, Rogers' wife, had ever seen a waterfall. Should be really fun! We will be going April 25th or 26th.

Last week, Abby and I sat out on the front porch each evening after 7pm. It is so beautiful as the darkness descends (at 7) and the stars begin to come out. We watched as a storm began coming towards us - we could see the lightning from some distance, and about 1/2 hour later it began raining so hard, we had to hurry inside. That was fun! Another night, we sat and watched the fireflies - there must have been hundreds of them - flying all around us, even landing on us periodically. It is amazingly beautiful! The Lugwere word for firefly is "star." That is exactly what they look like out there!
Last night we were outside and saw an amazing shooting star - the trail was orange and yellow and it kept going for 2-3 seconds. Wow!

Thanks so much to you 2 who sent a sewing machine with me! Last week I spent 5 hours repairing clothes for the kids. I have another 5-6 ahead, but we haven't had electricity. Maybe tomorrow. It has been so great to sew up seams and hems and see the kids in nice looking clothing even for play. One of the new teachers came and asked if I would make a dress for her. Ha! Not really here to be a seamstress...
We got our furniture and kitchen "cabinets" yesterday - so thrilling to not have to cook and wash dishes on the floor! My mistake, though, was not calling someone there in the US for how high cabinets are. They don't have kitchens here, so I just estimated...way too high! I told him 45" for the top. He was able to cut off 2" from the bottom (just 2x2 legs), but with the stove on top, we feel like we are little girls cooking in our mommy's kitchen. Ah, well, lesson learned. It is so great to have a couch and chairs in the front room. I will be making curtains for that room as the only ones available here do not match the furniture. I did buy curtains for the other rooms - unknown to me the curtains are made out of the same plastic as shower curtains. Oh, well, they do cover the windows.

We were able to plant the land on Saturday - thanks to God for rain! And thanks to you who picked this up and prayed. He answered and we should have maize and beans ready in about 2-3 months.

Sure love you all! Thank you for your support in so many ways! I look forward each week to reading your emails and knowing how you are doing and how things are there.

Laurie

Apr 4th Update

Saturday School

Greetings, all of you on the other side of the world! It's great to think about you over there sleeping, just waiting to get up and experience your Monday! I'm in the middle of mine and just want to tell you it will be great.

The first picture today is from Saturday School this last weekend. We had 200 children come to play games, hear a Bible story, sing songs and get a snack. It was so wonderful to be back with them again! We played a kind of freeze tag game with them and Simon Says. Both were great hits and really fun to watch (Abby led both games.) Then I told them the story about King David bringing the ark back into Jerusalem and that every 6 steps they stopped and worshipped. So, the picture is of 2 of the teachers from the school carrying the "ark" and all of us counting 6 steps, then stopping to sing a song to the Lord. We were all laughing and having a great time!

View our our home

The second picture is taken from our new house's front porch as Abby and I sat there early Sunday morning having a cup of tea. It was only about 75 degrees out there, as opposed to well over 80 inside. Really a very pastoral view and feeling. A couple of minutes later, we had a mother chicken and her chicks walking through the yard, to the right a man leading his goats by our fence, several people walking by on the road either in front or to the left and waving and greeting us. Seems everyone knows that the buzungu are living here now. Our home is beautiful and we are getting used to no electricity. We have set up a toilet on top of the latrine hole, so it's almost like being at home :-). One night, we went out to the latrine at about 3am - we always go out at the same time for safety - and I looked up at the amazing stars and there was a shooting star. Our God is awesome!
I've got to share the score with you: Laurie - 3, spiders - 0! HA! I have taken out 3...well, only 1 large one, but nonetheless.

Thank you to all of you who ministered to me when I was in the States: meals, homes to stay in, cars to drive, so many things to take back to my kids or for our new home. Some of you shared financially in ways that have helped us get our house set up and helped us in getting here. I am so appreciative for your sensitivity and blessing. Thank you. Ladies from Curves in Newark - it was so great to be with you for dinner! I trust you are all doing well. I'd love to hear from you.

The children are doing so well! I will be sending pictures of them so they can be put up on the website (www.cornerstoneministriesuganda.org). I realized we have not updated the pictures since last March. It will probably take several weeks as the internet is slow and I only have a couple of hours a week to do it. I also will be sending pictures of our new staff (the teachers and the new hires for other jobs) so you can "meet" them. All the children received 2 sets of new clothes. It was such a great time! They kept clapping for each thing each person received. Thanks to all of you who participated in getting clothing to us to give out!
An amazing Acts-type story yesterday: a woman was led into church right in the middle of my preaching. She had gone blind (unknown cause...temporary? permanent? people really don't know here) in the past 2 weeks. She also had great pain in her chest. I didn't know this, only that her being brought in caused quite a disturbance among those who were listening - how could God interrupt my sermon?? lol. Anyway, after church, Pastor Rogers asked if I would go and pray for her as he was going to pray for the 5 who received Jesus during the service (hallelujah!). Since she was seated behind me, I had not seen her led into church, or that she was blind. So, I went over and through an interpreter asked what she needed. She said her husband had died 2 weeks ago and his family had turned her out. She had fallen sick and ended up at the police station in Budaka. They told her she should come to Cornerstone because we would pray for her. So, we prayed, and her eyes were opened and she said that whatever the pain was in her chest felt like it started going up and then went out through her shoulders and is gone. Praise the Lord! He continues to do miracles among His people.

Okay, this is enough for the day - so much more to share, but we will have to wait till next week. I do want to ask you to pray, though, for one thing: inflation is raging here - 11% since the first of the year. Many of our people have so little money already and this is putting everyone back. Our own prices for food have risen, sometimes by as much as 10% from one week to the next. Please pray that whatever is causing this will be stopped and we will be able to continue to feed our children in the way that is helping them be healthy and strong. Pray for the people in Cornerstone Christian Centre (the church) that they would turn and trust in God to help them in this time. Pray for a release of the finances needed to move forward. Thanks for joining with us in praying for these things! So nice to know there are others carrying this ministry with us.
God bless you all.

Laurie