Feb 12th Update

Hey, Everyone!

Thanks so much for your support - I feel like I am not the only one over here, that there are many who are helping this dream of Cornerstone become a reality. Your prayer, financial support and emails are so important to me and to the people we serve here in Budaka. Thank you.

So, here are some things that are happening:

• We had the crusade and had 14 people (that we know of) saved. Hallelujah! I preached the first night from Hebrews 13:8 - that Jesus is the same today as he was yesterday and will be forever. People responded to the call for salvation, healing and miracles in their lives. There was a huge thunderstorm, accompanied by probably 2-3 inches of rain that began around 2 pm that day. It's the first day it's rained since I have been here. The crusade was to begin at 5:30. I was watching the storm, thinking we would have to cancel. At about 4pm, the Lord said to me to get moving and get ready - there would be no rain that night. So, I got ready and it was still raining very hard. At about 5:15, the rain suddenly stopped and we had no rain the rest of the evening. Amazing! When I talked about miracles, I was sharing about Jesus being the master of the winds and waves and shared with them about what the Lord had said to me. So nice that He gave an illustration to us of His miracle power.
• We had 2 days of training this week for our staff. The training was great - the emphasis being on us becoming a family of people working together to help the children and to see the Kingdom of God come in this place. The new employees responded well and we did several exercises together to get to know each other. Here are the names of our staff - please be in prayer with us for them: Christine and Stephen - cooks; Lillian and Geoffrey - house parents; Cephas - night watchman (he is getting trained with a bow and arrow to protect us); Mary - physician's assistant; David and Betty - teachers; Rogers and I - directors.
• Our first church service was last Sunday and we had 29 in attendance - WOW! Even some of the people who got saved at the crusade were there. Then Wednesday we had early morning prayer (6 came at 5:30!) and an evening service at 5:30 with 19 in attendance. God is moving in Budaka. People are responding and getting saved, delivered and healed. We have had lots of requests for counseling also - there is a lot of witchcraft, spells put on people, etc. here and people are not sure how to get free. We will continue to be available to people for help in their everyday lives. Please pray for wisdom in this...and another translator. At this point, we have only Rogers who speaks Lugwelle - the local language.
• Our kids come on Monday - I'm so excited to get to be with them in an ongoing way. One of the things I have felt from the Lord is that I am to do evening devotions with the whole group - simple Bible stories with fun songs - and then tuck each child into bed and pray for them individually. Since they don't understand English, Rogers and I will be doing this together at least for the short term. I'm excited for them to feel the presence of a mom and dad who love and care for them. Please pray for those who are scared about the new place and new people. Even some of the children are scared of me because I'm white - I'm the first muzungu (white person) they have ever seen. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them peace inside when they see me.

I will write again within in a week or so to let you know how our first week has gone. I pray that your lives will be full of the presence of the Lord and you will respond to all that He asks you to do right there in your neighborhoods. God bless you as you continue to seek Him.

In His great love,

Laurie