Aug 30th Update

Greetings friends and family!

It's a great day here in Mbale. Only in the 80s and relatively low humidity (all this by how it feels, not by any statistics I have seen or know).

This Saturday is our 2nd Saturday School - an outreach to the children of Budaka. We have asked each person at the church to go to 10 homes of unchurched people and invite their children to come. We also have instructed them to tell the parents that the purpose of this 2 hours is NOT to take their children in as orphans, or to support their families. Apparently at the end last time, parents came to Rogers and asked how they sign up to get ongoing help from Cornerstone! Please pray with us that the children who come will be touched by the life of God and our love for them.This month we will be talking about salvation...God's love and provision for their lives forever. 

Some great things that have been happening:

• 3 weeks ago we went and rescued Rogers' sister from her abusive husband who had beat her up quite badly the night before. She left her kids with their grandparents (a picture of the "compound" on which she and her children lived is the first picture today) ***missing picture... will add soon***. She lived with us for a week or so, then went to Kabuna, the village she and Rogers are from, to live with her dad and his wife. She has been back by the house a couple of times and yesterday showed up for church. She was there from the very beginning when we have a New Believers' class teaching the basics of the Christian walk. I taught about sin, forgiveness and salvation yesterday and simply laid out how to get saved. At the end of church, Rogers introduced her (she was a visitor, and they always introduce visitors) and she stood up, told her name and said "I am here because I want to be born again." So, I got to pray with her at the end of church and now she is both Rogers' sister in the flesh...and his sister in the Lord! It was a great time! She is so excited. As I prayed with her, I felt the Lord say to me, "One of the reasons I brought you to Budaka is for Rebecca to come to know Me." What a wonderful God we serve. Rogers is beside himself!
• Our businessman, John, who we hired at the beginning of August, has done lots of research now on the various businesses we can start, what kind of return we can get on them, etc. These are things we are looking at: a piggery, raising chickens, a restaurant, a bakery, tailoring, the kids' crafts (more about that in a minute), and there are 2-3 more that I can't remember right now. Anyway, we are very excited about all this and will assess within the next week which one(s) to begin. John will be in charge of them for the present time until they generate enough income to support another worker. Please pray for us as we launch this (FINALLY!). It's been more difficult to begin than we assumed, but we are undaunted...

The 2nd picture ***missing picture... will add soon*** is of a monkey (I'm sure one of you knows the actual species, and will send me the name of it!) we saw in Jinja last week. We saw several of them crossing the road, and then this one close enough that I could get a picture of it. Actually, it is the first "wild" animal I have seen since being here (if you don't count the poisonous snake!). Just thought you'd like to see a little more of my world. I think I will send a 2nd email with a picture of the most frustrating thing about going to the Source of the Nile river...

One sad thing - Johnson, one of our boys, did not come back from the 1-week visit with his family. We have called his uncle (who brought him), but have received no answer. It looks like he is not coming back. He is quite a whippersnapper and I will miss him a lot. Please continue to pray for him as the Lord wants to touch his life...even when he is not with us. Thanks! Pray for all of us (kids, staff and Rogers and me) as all of us are having a difficult time with this. Thank you.
Okay, enough for today. Please have a blessed day...and thanks to all of you who support this work in Budaka through your prayers, monetary gifts and emails. I am so blessed, as are all the children and staff. It's a great partnership for all of you involved in helping with the acquisition of land and buildings - we are bringing in 2 builders to meet with us. They come in 2 weeks. One is the man who oversaw the building of the Lira school and orphanage we saw in March - amazing buildings! - and the other a builder from Kiwangala that Rogers knows and trusts (Pastor Stephen). It's quite exciting to be at this point. Thanks so much to each of you who have taken the $1,000 challenge. God is working with wonders.

Love you all!

Please remember to write...you are a lifeline for me many times.

Laurie
pastorld01@gmail.com

Frustration in Jinja

Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 5:52 AM

As promised, here is my frustration. Read the sign closely, at least the top 2 price lines. So that you don't end on a bad note, I have also included a picture of Hope (Rogers' and Betty's baby born in Feb) and I in Jinja.
Love you!
Laurie

Click to Enlarge

Click to enlarge