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