After a year in my house, the landlord has finally come and connected me to the town water pipe. Now I have running water...to the back yard. One spigot. But, hey, running water!! The first picture shows you me using the tap for the first time. The second picture shows you the leaking BRAND NEW pipe the next morning. At least the leak is before the meter...They came later that day and turned off the water, so I had to buy water again. But within 2 days they had fixed it so it only leaks a little...and I can take the jerry cans to the back yard and get water (at night and in the morning only) right there at my house. It's a great convenience!
Reminds me - we are now over a month with no electricity. Nothing left to say about that...
VD was Saturday...okay, it's not what you thought...VD stands for Visitation Day for schools here. We had about 1/2 of the parents show up to see how their children are doing. Many had such good things to say about how their children are speaking English so well, how their handwriting has improved since being at Cornerstone and how healthy they are looking from the good nutrition (for those who board). It was a good day. Rogers and I spent quite a bit of time going to all 31 of our kids' classes and looking at their work with them, seeing their test results, etc. I am happy to report that five of our children were #1 in their classes. They are doing so well! Also, we sold banana bread, brownies and cinnamon cake (coffee cake for all you westerners) from Cornerstone Bakery to parents and kids. It was a great day all around.
We just on Wednesday got the okay to sell our bakery products at the "supermarket" (think smaller than a 7-11) in Budaka. We took 8 things...6 of which sold by Friday. That's good news. And, they misunderstood me and sold them for shs200=/ [
$0.08 USD] more than they normally sell for...and they sold! Maybe we should raise the prices!
We were able this week to secure a property for the church. As a church, we have raised well over shs3,000,000=/ [
$1,217.04 USD] (about $1,500) toward the purchase of property. The man who owns this property wants to sell in the next year or two, but is willing to rent to us for now, with a part of our rent going to the purchase price. It's great for us! And, the property is right near the middle of town - just where we wanted to be! And, there is already a fairly large house on the property in which we will have Sunday School. We will build a temporary structure there for the adults. People are so excited to have done this themselves!
The 3rd picture I've sent is a child dedication this weekend for Hellen, a very involved member of Cornerstone who loves Jesus with all her heart. (She was the first person to get saved at the crusade in Budaka in February 2010.) Her three children are, from left, Mercy, Pretty and Valan. She asked last week if she could have one of her children dedicated and I said yes, talked with her and asked why not the others. She said she thought you could only dedicate one :). Anyway, yesterday, when I asked her to introduce her children to the congregation, she told the story of Mercy being named. Hellen was distraught over family issues when she was pregnant and decided to commit suicide. At the last moment, she changed her mind and felt like some force told her this child needed to be born. So, she named her Mercy because her life was saved...as well as Hellen's. I had never heard the story and was a little choked up as I prayed for them. Isn't our God good...even before we know Him??
Yesterday at the end of the first service, a woman everyone in town knows - she is one of the prostitutes in town - came into the church. A little gasp from some. She sat down and when Rogers asked for visitors to introduce themselves, she introduced herself and said she was tired of the life she was living and wanted to get saved. So wonderful! A new sister in Christ! And, it taught all of us a lesson at the same time. God is at work in Budaka...even among those "sinners."
It looks like we have a lead on the thieves who robbed us in January of all our kitchen pots/pans, etc. When the cooks were doing a "deep clean" two weeks ago, they found a voter registration card of someone none of us knew. Apparently, it had fallen out of the man's pocket when he was stealing our stuff. So, Rogers took it to the police. They said they would follow up, but it would require shs40,000=/ [
$16.23 USD] for "transport" to Naboa. The actual costs of that transport is about shs5,000=/ [
$2.03 USD]. Another bribe for "justice." Rogers takes it all in stride...but it bugs me every time I'm asked to pay a tip for something that should be a service. Anyway, the police went, didn't find the man at home, so they called him (he was in western Uganda at the time - maybe selling our goods?) and they told him to come back, that they were going to arrest him. I'm pretty sure you can guess what has happened. Amazingly, he has not returned, but they would be glad to go get him in western Uganda...if only we can give them "transport" money. O, Uganda.
Okay, enough for now. Thanks to all of you who have responded with the things you are going to pick up for the kids, bakery, church, etc. Things still needed: Bibles, preschool toys, baby clothes. If you are planning to get any of these for me to bring back, please let me know.
Thank you all for your continued support and love for the kids here! You are such a blessing in my life, too! See you all in just a few weeks now.
Love,
Laurie
