Dec 7th - Good problems to have

Cornerstone Bakery continues to amaze us. In 3 days, we have made 1/2 of what we averaged in a month before. It's great, it's wonderful, and now we have to figure out how to keep up. Abby and I began baking this morning at 6:30, baked for 5 hours, brought the product to the bakery in Mbale and now are taking our day (hours?) off.

We hope to move the baking operation to Mbale on Monday. Then, I will train Gerald in the baking for 3 days and see where we're at at that time. I will stay in Mbale at the hotel during those days (running water!!), so I won't have to do the back and forth to Budaka. Hopefully, then I will only have to come back 2-3 times a week. Dreaming of getting to spend time with the kids again...

Love you all! Thank you for your encouragement and support through this new transition in Cornerstone Uganda Ministries. We are looking at buying a larger stove so we can be more efficient. (Thanks to those of you who have seen this need coming and have already asked if you can help with it. I will be contacting you.)

I'm off to (hopefully) get a massage before going back to Budaka. Talk with you soon.

Laurie

Dec 5th Wow...wow

Another amazing day - new customers, just slightly less in sales than the first day, new products introduced (and sold out), employees doing well, etc.!

Here's a picture of Rogers and Gerald (our new employee) before we opened the doors on the first day. I have posted other pictures on fb at Cornerstone Uganda Ministries.

Just wanted to let you know things are going well - gotta go bake more - it's almost 7am here. Bake, then off to Mbale with the products.

Love you all! Thanks for praying.
Laurie

Dec 4th - Wow!

A really quick update to say our first day was a smashing success at Cornerstone Bakery!! We sold out of everything 2 hours before closing time, and so had to close the store early. Abby and I were there all day, giving out samples and packaging items - so glad for her Starbucks experience - it has really come in handy with money, cleaning and employee procedures. Thanks, Bill! Who knew getting her involved in Sbux would help in Africa so many years later!

Anyway, we left Budaka at 7:15 yesterday with all the baked goods, opened at 8am in Mbale and returned to Budaka last night at 8pm (after closing up, cleaning, etc.) and had to go and bake more for today. We had no idea how successful our first day would be. Yesterday, Cornerstone made 10x what we have made on an average day since January of this year! We are overwhelmed with gratefulness to our Father. Thank you all for being a part...encouraging us, financially supporting us as we get these businesses going, praying for us, etc., etc.

More later - got to get ready to leave again this morning at 7:15. Abby is staying behind to bake with Monicah. I will go and open the store with the 5 kinds of baked goods we prepared last night. Then, Abby will come when the other 6 are done today. Pray for strength for Abby and I to keep up and figure out now how to handle baking enough! Thank you.

God bless you all!
Laurie

Dec 3rd - Quick update

Tomorrow the bakery opens in Mbale. This has been a long day, so please bear with me as you get only a short email update. So many things to tell, but no energy left. It's almost 10pm, been up since 4am. Went to see the kids at 6:30 (they're fine!), then to find milk for some recipes (found at Pastor Rogers' from their cow), then made the dough for cinnamon rolls. Abby and Monicah continued, making 10 different items for our opening tomorrow. I went to Mbale and did all the last minute things with Gerald (new employee) - setting up the bookkeeping (longhand, of course), got the store looking good, walked to 5 places to get last minute stuff, talked to several potential customers who were looking for cakes, then back to Budaka. Abby called on our way back - they were out of eggs. No eggs in Budaka. Not one...until we heard that there was a small shop that had 4 eggs left. We needed 3. Rushed there and bought them. One was broken in the washing, but we only needed 3 ;). Back to the bakery, finish up the g-nut cookies, millet muffins, bake the last loaf of banana bread and frost the carrot cake. Long day.

As I walked in from "out back" (the latrine) a few minutes ago, Abby said, "Mom, you have a praying mantis on your leg." Sure enough! You know you've been in Africa for awhile when you just reach down and brush off the 3" insect from your leg.

Hope your day is full too! Please pray for us for the opening of Cornerstone Bakery. Pictures will be forthcoming!

Love you all!
Laurie

Nov 27th - Calendars are here!!

We have 2013 Cornerstone calendars now, ready for you to

• purchase for Christmas gifts
• have one or more for your own home
• sell at your place of work or your school
• make available at your church

all to help support our kids here at Cornerstone in Budaka!

Please email me asap and we will see that they get to you in time for Christmas.

Thanks!

Laurie

Nov 27th - Monday update

Greetings, Friends and Family!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Day and weekend! We had a wonderful time with our Peace Corps friends, Aubrey, Ryan and Caroline. We had turkey (killed fresh and dressed for us Thursday morning), mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade rolls and butter (REAL butter!), green beans sauteed with garlic and hummus and veggies. Then, for dessert we had pumpkin pie...complete with whipping cream (not real, but close). We played games, talked and laughed and generally enjoyed being Americans together in this foreign culture.

Here are some other highlights of the week:

Saturday - Parents' Day at School

There is always a final program to show the parents what the kids have learned, give the parents the report cards and have local officials (and some key staff) make speeches. It was supposed to start at 8am, but of course, it didn't start till 10am. The program went well. You have a couple of pictures from it. The first is of Magdalene and Doreen, who were representing Baby Class (Preschool) and doing an interactive drama with 2 of our other Baby Class members. The 4 had memorized several lines to say to each other. They were great - confident and cute. That's their teacher, Rosemary, who is holding the microphone for them.

You also have a picture of Natasha, who did about a 5-minute monologue on the digestive system. She and Ronald both did presentations like this - Ronald's was on the heart and its function. I was amazed at their poise, ability to memorize and the clarity with which they spoke. The teachers have done a great job with them this year, and the children have done well. Our Cornerstone kids were the top of their classes in 3 of the 8 classes. So proud of them!

The whole thing ended about 4pm with lunch for everyone.

At 2pm, I had to leave the kids' program to attend a graduation party for a woman in our church who has just finished her bachelor's degree. Pastor Rogers and I split up the pastoral duties - he stayed with the kids and I went to the graduation. This one lasted till about 7pm. I didn't realize I was on the program, but got to give a sermon almost immediately after getting there - nothing like thinking on your feet! You have a picture of Mary - she's the one with glasses on in the middle of the 3 graduates. She's a very sweet sister in Christ. Funny thing from this function - her husband's family is Anglican and they had the priests there who followed me on the program. They announced that now we were going to have a service, and indeed they did a whole church service, including the baptism of her youngest child, Zoe, who is 1 month old. I might add this was against Mary's will, but the extended family holds rank on this kind of thing. So, Zoe was baptized and then Sunday morning, Mary brought her for dedication to Cornerstone. Oh, we Christians!

Mutwahiru

Mutwahiru is doing very well and will be coming home today (Tuesday). Our nurse, Tom, has gone to Entebbe to pick him up and learn how to adjust the leg lengthener. We will all be so glad to have him home!

Bakery

We spent yesterday (Monday) in Mbale working on the details of opening up the bakery there. We had our new employee, Gerald, clean and paint last week. He came and met with me yesterday so I could talk to him about his hours, job description, etc. Rogers went and got the licensing with the municipality, got the electricity turned back on (the last person in this place had not paid her electric bill, so we had to pay that - about $300 - in order to get the electricity turned on) and found a glass counter. We went together to find a curtain (the room is quite long, so we decided to split it with the curtain), calculator, ledger book, trays for the products, etc., etc. Who knew starting a shop was so much work? (OK, I know lots of you do...but I didn't ;)

So, we are looking at opening on Monday, if all goes as planned. We actually had targeted today to open, but the man who promised the glass counter didn't show up (in Uganda they say he "disappointed us" - indeed!) and we can't open till we have a place to display our products. The Peace Corps friends have volunteered to stand on the sidewalk and promote our things, giving out samples when we open. They are very excited about what we're doing!

School is over for the year now, so the boarders have gone home and now it is just our Cornerstone kids for a couple of months. We're so excited to get to spend individual time with them again. Because they go to school Mon-Fri 7:30-5:30 and 7-8:30pm, and Saturday 8am-1pm, we have very little time to just hang out with them.

Thank you so much for your support and love for the work here in Budaka! God is doing amazing things through all of you. Have a wonderful day...talk to you next week!

Laurie

Nov 19th - Monday evening update

I'm sitting on a comfy bed, electricity is working, there is running and water, and wait for it...wait for it...AIR CONDITIONING! I can't believe it! This is my first time to be in a hotel room in Uganda that has an air conditioner. Wow - the lap of luxury. Just wanted to share my joy with all of you. Don't know if I'll ever leave here ;)

Okay, on to the real business:

Mutwahiru

• Mutwahiru had his surgery on Wednesday. Pastor Rogers took him to the hospital (4 hours away from Budaka) and stayed till after the surgery, then came back to Budaka. On Friday, Abby and I were going to Masaka and had to go fairly near the hospital, so we were able to visit him then. Today, on our way back, we also visited him. Friday he was still in a lot of pain, but today he was happy and excited about walking. I have included a picture of him laughing today. He and his mom were sitting out on the lawn - such a rare thing here in Uganda (lawns, that is) - getting fresh air. We let him call and talk with several of his friends at Cornerstone. He was smiling and laughing with them. So great to see him happy! When Pastor Rogers left on Thursday morning, Mutwahiru began crying. He truly loves his family at Cornerstone. The contraption on his leg is the lengthener. He will move out of the hospital tomorrow or Wednesday and then be in the family housing area for 2-3 more days before he can come home. We're so excited to have him back! Thanks to all of you who have been praying for him. And to Papa Mark and Mama Sharon for loving this boy so much.

Masaka

• Abby and I traveled to Masaka District to the village of Bukoto to help out at another ministry similar to Cornerstone - a church, school and orphanage. The ministry is called Agapé. We spent time encouraging the teachers, the women who make crafts to support themselves, with the church leaders and with the orphans on Saturday. We began at 7:30am meeting with Pastor Ronald, the director of the whole ministry, and we were back at our hotel (not the air conditioned one!) at about 7pm that evening. Then on Sunday, I spoke at the service and Abby did kids' ministry ("we have about 20 kids;" 91 showed up!). Parents from the school were there as we immediately went into a graduation for the Top Class (kindergarten). Many are non-churched people, but were very receptive to the teaching at church, as well as the speech I got to give about parenting, education and God. After the graduation, there was a celebration for all children at the school and their parents. At the end of that, we spent an hour or so with the orphans, showing them videos and pictures from the last time we were there (in August). They have never seen themselves in pictures and videos, so it was great fun to watch their reactions! 
• We were the first white visitors to the ministry...and to many in Bukoto we were the first whites that they had ever seen stay in Bukoto for 2 days! (We slept in Masaka - a larger town with some extra safety in place for westerners, but we were in Bukoto from early morning till evening Saturday and Sunday.)
• There is a picture of the kids who are under Pastor Ronald's care. We fell in love with them in August, and it was fun to reunite with them again this weekend. Pastor Ronald is on the far left, and Abby and I are on the far right. The kids include boarders at the school and many children whose parents cannot raise them for one reason or another.

Special Food in Bukoto

• At the meal during the celebration, they brought several dishes to us to eat. Most of them we knew and enjoy here. As they were bringing each of the dishes, Pastor Ronald said, "The teachers have prepared something special for you. May they bring it?" You have a picture of what was in this special dish - any guesses? Those are grasshoppers - their legs are pulled off and they are fried. All in all quite crunchy and not too bad...I just couldn't think about what it was while I was eating it. So sweet of the teachers to think of us ;)

Travel

• On Friday, when we were on our way to Masaka, the bus stopped in the Mabira Forest...a rainforest in Uganda...for a "short call." That's the time you can get off and relieve yourself - no bathrooms, just find a spot. Anyway, we don't ever get off (as you might guess), but were looking at the OTHER side of the bus and saw movement in the trees. What a great thing - we were treated to a large group of red-tailed monkeys swinging in the trees. They are fairly small monkeys, but it looks like their tails must be at least 12-18" long. Their whole body is brown, but the tails are a very distinctive red color. It was so fun (and much more fun than trying to avert our eyes from what was happening on the other side of the bus!). We got some pictures, but it's really hard to see the monkeys :(
• This morning (Monday), we traveled on a coaster (a small bus) back to Kampala to visit Mutwahiru and to rest for the night before heading back to Budaka tomorrow morning. We were in the back row - very bumpy ride! - and I kept smelling the exhaust and had to use a handkerchief to be able to breathe well. When we got to the hotel here (WITH air conditioning!), I saw that my legs were black from the knees down. Apparently, I was sitting on the side where the exhaust was coming in through the back door that did not shut snugly. Wonder what my lungs look like...O, Uganda!
• Also, whenever you travel in Uganda on a bus, they stop periodically at places where you can buy some small food...well, this time of year, you can buy baggies of grasshoppers that have been roasted. Here's a picture of the guy next to our bus window trying to sell us grasshoppers. (We didn't buy any...had enough yesterday!)

I will post some pictures and videos on the Facebook page for any who want to see more of our adventures! We are at Cornerstone Uganda Ministries on Facebook.

Thank you to all of you who make the ministry we do here possible. Thank you for supporting us financially, in prayer and with constant communication through email, snail mail and packages. I am so THANKFUL to all of you this Thanksgiving week. Have a great holiday!

Love,

Laurie