Happy days this week! We bought a sealer...a machine that uses a hot bar to seal plastic...and now can wrap our bakery products in less than 1/2 the time as before. You would have thought we were in Disneyland, we were having so much fun with it.
This past week, we made almost shs300,000 [$111.524 USD] from bakery sales. At that rate, in a month, we would make shs1,200,000 [$446.0967 USD], or about 12% of our needed monthly income. It's amazing how it's grown! We now sell in 2 places in Budaka, 4 in Mbale and one in Kadama. We have people interested in selling for us in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. We are now regularly making coconut and pumpkin cupcakes and banana bread for our customers, as well as Irish Soda Bread for our kids and staff each week (thus lowering our food costs at Cornerstone).
New Discoveries
This past week, through direction from some of the Peace Corps workers, I found a shop in Mbale that sells cheese. They only make certain kinds and only enough to sell for the day (they don't have refrigeration), but the day I went they had one block of Gouda and it was delicious!! Today I'm supposed to go by and pick up cream cheese I ordered last week - wondering if it will be like cream cheese in the States, will we be able to cook with it in the bakery, can I find some recipes that use local products with it, etc.
Also, this week I found a lead on getting vanilla. The vanilla extract is quite expensive here and so we have had to leave it out of the recipes since we ran out of the large container the New Life team brought in February (thanks, Bill, Susan and team!). Apparently, vanilla beans grow out west in Uganda and we can use the seeds in our recipes. If anyone knows more about this, send me an email. So excited to find a source.
Some Sadnesses
I've been to 2 funerals this week - one was our builder's (Pastor Stephen's) mother. I have sent you a picture of Abby and I with the family. Pastor Stephen is the one with his arms around Abby and I (the white-skinned people ;). His mother was 68 years old, had 13 children and was raising 4 of her grandchildren. I did not know her personally, but heard she was a wonderful mother to her children. We were in the west for other business, and so were able to go and support Pastor Stephen at this time of loss.
The other funeral was for a young child (under 2 years). She is the daughter of a pastor of another church in Budaka. She died suddenly on Saturday morning. Abby and I had been in a matatu (mini-van taxi) with the family on Thursday morning. Pastor Rogers and I went to the funeral yesterday immediately after our Sunday morning services. There were about 400 people there, sitting under makeshift tents. I was seated in the pastors' section, directly in front of the casket. Within minutes of sitting down, I was asked to get up and say a word to the people. I have finally begun to get used to this culture and am ready at any time to give a word at such an occasion. And, it was such a sad occasion! Please pray for this family. (Their older daughter attends our Cornerstone school.) After I spoke, a pastor from town preached a sermon and then we all followed as the burial took place behind the family home.
Adventures in Uganda
Moving on to a happier topic: Abby and I went for 3 days to western Uganda to help with Agapé Ministries, an orphanage, school and church in Bukoto. Dove Adoption Agency in Oregon is working with Agapé to begin adopting children from Uganda. I was there to be a liaison between the director of Dove and Pastor Ronald, the director of Agapé. (Pastor Ronald is Pastor Rogers' younger brother.) It was quite fun to meet the orphans, speak at a church meeting and get to work on things for the advancement of the adoption processes.
One of the things at Agapé I was so impressed with was that Pastor Ronald has talked to the women of the church about working with their hands to support themselves. He hired someone to come and teach them basket weaving and other crafts. I have included a picture of many of the baskets they have made. They are really doing so well in their crafts. As many of you know, I buy baskets and other things and take them to the States and sell them to help support Cornerstone. I bought many of the things you see and will go back to buy more as we are ready to send and/or bring things to the States. These ladies were so blessed as they didn't know what market they would have for their things. (If you see anything in this picture you would like, or if you have a place at your church or work to sell these things, let me know and we can connect about how that can happen!) So glad to support other artists I now know and at the same time support Cornerstone! What a blessing all around.
Okay, I think that is enough for this week. Be blessed today! Thank you for thinking about us, praying for us and supporting us in so many ways! You are prayed for by the staff here and by our children. I show them pictures of many of you from when I was home. They enjoy seeing you and knowing who they are praying for.
Talk with you again next week! Thanks to all of you who have written this week.
Laurie
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