Sep 24

Good afternoon, my friends!

It's a fairly cool day in Budaka...actually had to wear a sweatshirt this morning! We are all doing well today. Quite a few of our kids, as well as most of our staff, have been sick this past week, but most are back today and doing well. The only notable exception is Junior, who has spent the last 2 days at the hospital on drips for malaria. He comes home in the evening to spend the night. Junior rarely gets sick, so we all have been quite concerned. He seems to be getting better now, after 2 days of medication, so we are encouraged. All who have been sick have either had malaria, flu or a combination of those 2 things.

A Great Find for Cornerstone Bakery
We found vanilla beans this week! They are dried and are shs20,000 for 1/2 kg [$7.43 USD] (about $10 for a pound). I'm so excited to know they grow here and are available...at least in Jinja. I also found liquid vanilla in Kampala and it was shs20,000 [$7.43 USD] or a liter. We will see what is better and which is more cost effective for the bakery. It's so fun to have vanilla back in the bakery goods! Now I have to find a mortar and pestle so I can grind the vanilla beans...
We found the vanilla, along with other spices we have looked for, in a market in Jinja (about 2 hours away from Budaka). I have included 2 pictures of the spices we found. You can see cinnamon (looks like pieces of bark), as well as cloves and curry, coffee (not really a spice, you might say). It was a really nice market. As a matter of fact, I also really liked the way one of the seller of beans displayed his work - so colorful! Hope you enjoy the picture too.

Learn Luganda
We were following the car you have a picture of and I asked Pastor Rogers, "How do you say that word, and what does it mean?" Some of you are going to love this: the word is pronounced "fa - coo - bee - bee - yo" with the emphasis on the first "bee" sound. Okay, ready for the meaning? It means, "It's none of your business." Such a funny statement on a car. Now you know some Luganda, the most used Ugandan language after English. Abby and I say it to each other sometimes. Kinda fun. Some of you will take a while to process why...

2013 CALENDAR

By the end of October, we will have the 2013 Cornerstone Calendar ready for purchase. The calendar this year shows the effects of Cornerstone on the community, the church, the children, Rogers, and even some of you! Each month shows a different effect. Thanks to Matt and Dena who are designing the pages and providing helpful direction. I hope you all will get a calendar...and perhaps give them as Christmas gifts this year! For those of you at churches and/or schools (or just those who want to order many of them), we can let you know how to get boxes of them delivered to your nearby Costco to pick up and sell. Just email me if you are able and/or willing to take some to sell. They sell for $20 each, with all proceeds going directly to helping the children at Cornerstone.

Okay, enough for today - it's already after 5pm and I have to get back home before dark (dark is always at 7pm here near the equator!). Have to stop 2 places (the "supermarket" and the cheese* place) before going back, then it's 1/2 hour back home to Budaka.

*Ugandans don't eat cheese, so this was quite a find. It's expensive, but so fun to eat.

Thank you so much for loving us, praying for us, and giving to support the work that God is doing here. You are loved and prayed for also!

Laurie

Sep 17th - Monday in...Kampala??

Wow - things happen fast around here sometimes! Just a short review of the past 4 days:

Wednesday

• We get news that the ambassador and 3 others were killed in Libya.
• Pray for the families of these and begin checking the news to see if this affects us (Uganda and Libya have strong ties - Kadhaffi gave billions of shillings to Uganda to build mosques here several years ago)

Thursday

• We send samples to Elia in Kampala so he can find business for Cornerstone Bakery there
• The U.S. embassy in Kampala sends out an "urgent" email to not go to Kampala 
• One of the Peace Corps workers comes to get bakery goodies and tells us the Peace Corps has contacted all it's people in Uganda and they are not to travel to Kampala for any reason until further notice
• Continue checking the news to see if we are safe

Friday

• A text comes from the embassy, reminding me to not go to Kampala
• Abby, Ellen and I are behind a locked gate at all times - no American goes anywhere alone, even to the orphanage, day or night. All movements outside the house (even within our "compound") must be with another person
• We send (through a Ugandan) 60 cupcakes to Kampala, where we have someone (Elia) finding business for Cornerstone Bakery
• The cupcakes don't arrive at 4pm on the bus
• The cupcakes don't arrive at 8pm on the next bus 
• The cupcakes finally arrive at midnight on the final bus of the day
• Elia calls and has 3 other places that want cupcakes. One supermarket wants 100 cupcakes for each of its 2 locations.

Saturday 

• I begin worrying about how in the world we will make 260 cupcakes extra a week and transport them with unreliable transportation
• Elia calls to say that 7 of the 60 cupcakes were ruined when the bus company crushed a part of the box and plastic containers they were in 
• I worry more. We made 64 cupcakes this morning and it took 4 1/2 hours (our oven is quite small). How will we keep up?
• The Lord speaks to me from Psalm 23 - He leads me beside quiet waters...He MAKES me lie down in green pastures...He restores my soul...He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. I am back at peace 

Sunday

• We have one of our biggest Sundays at church. Pastor Rogers teaches on the motivational gifts in Romans 12. People respond - it is the first time for many to hear that the Holy Spirit gives gifts. Over 2/3 of the congregation in both services stand in response to the invitation to all the Holy Spirit to do His work through them. Amazing. 
• Pastor Rogers and I realize we need to go to Kampala and see/visit with the managers, as well as help Elia in reasonable orders for where we are at now. We know we must go on Monday. Is it safe for me, an American, to go?

Monday

• In the wee hours of the morning, some flying insect gets in my left ear, buzzing and flapping its wings. I'm up most of the night worrying about bugs in my brain...oh, the things our minds do in the middle of the night...
• We leave at 6am for Kampala. We plan to spend the night.
• We get to Kampala about 9:30 and begin going to businesses. After 7 places, Elia is comfortable enough with the products, we know we can go back today instead of tomorrow. 
• We go to the market to get new baking pans and cupcake liners, as well as packaging sleeves, vanilla and new containers.
• We finally get lunch at 3:45pm and now we will leave to head home, stopping in Jinja at a supermarket that wants to carry our products. Should be home by 9 or 10, tired, but at least in Budaka not Kampala

Hope you enjoyed a little of my past few days. This doesn't include the times at the orphanage playing "air jump rope" with the kids (picture included!) They play this, not because they don't have jump ropes, but because the little ones can't jump in time. This way they can. Each girl at the ends holds small sticks which they turn as you would a jump rope. Clever!

Also included a picture of the group at our house this weekend. Abby and Ellen read, played and worked with the group this week while I repaired 20+ uniforms on the sewing machine. The boys in the picture are, from left, Mutwahiru, Charles, Dovico and Emma.

Got to go to the store and pick up a few things before we leave. Talk to you all again next week - hopefully all will be calmer!

Thank you to those who are praying for us (have a had a few emails and FB postings of people woken up in the middle of the night to pray - thank you for listening!). We feel loved and supported by all of you! Have a wonderful day!

Laurie

Sep 11th - Cornerstone kids

Just a quick note to those of you who support the work here in Budaka in so many ways. Thank you!! Here is a new way of helping our kids you may want to take advantage of.

We are setting up college/trade school accounts for our kids so when they have finished at the orphanage, they have the funds available to go on to get an education for some kind of career here in Uganda. $10 a month put in savings now (in America) will be enough for even our oldest child (Brenda 1 who is about 13 and in 5th grade) to be able to go for further education.

We have 4 of our children already sponsored in this way. If you would like to be a sponsor, just send me an email and let me know who you want to sponsor and I will let you know how you can do that.

I have included a picture of all the kids, so if there is a particular "face" you'd like to support, just let me know which. Also, here are our kids' names, if you'd like to choose one from the list.

• Amos - already sponsored
• Bartholomew
• Beatrice
• Brenda 1 - already sponsored
• Brenda 2
• Charity
• Charles (twin with Ronald)
• Christine
• David
• Doreen 
• Dovico
• Emma (boy)
• Hellen
• Isaac
• Joel
• John
• Junior
• Lisa
• Magdalene
• Margret
• Moses
• Mutwahiru - already sponsored
• Natasha
• Oliver (girl)
• Peter
• Ronald (twin with Charles)
• Sarah
• Stephen (twin with William)
• Vanessa 
• William

Thanks for all that you do for Cornerstone...and Budaka...and Uganda. God bless you!

Laurie

Sep 10th - God is good!

Greetings on this rainy, cold Monday in Mbale! Wow - those words sound like Oregon or Washington, not Uganda. I'm sipping my 2nd pot of African tea (hot milk, tea and sugar), trying to get warm. What a change!

A few things to report to all of you:

1. As Pastor Rogers and I were working on budgeting this morning, we were amazed to find that in the first 5 months of this year, an average of 27% of our income was from our businesses here in Uganda. Wow! God is so good. We get discouraged periodically about what is not there...but when we can see that the businesses really are making money that is going to support the work, we stand back amazed. I told many of you when I was in the States that we are working toward being 50% self-supporting by the end of 2012. We are well on our way. 
2. One of our businesses, the bakery, will be expanding to both Jinja and Kampala in this next month. Jinja is a large town at the headwaters of the Nile River. Kampala is the capital city of Uganda. Both of these will be huge steps forward for Cornerstone Bakery!
3. Ellen Zulauf has arrived and has jumped right in to the work here. We are glad to have an addition to our "muzungu" staff, if only for 3 months' time. I have attached a picture of the kids welcoming her. Hellen and David are doing a traditional dance of welcome, and the end of the dance includes bowing in front of her, as you can see in the picture. 
4. We visited several places in Kampala this past Thursday and Friday to find the right place(s) for our kids to go on a field trip with the E! team that is coming in October. One place we are pretty sure we will visit is the Kabaka's Palace. Kabaka means "king" in Luganda. Most tribes in Uganda have a king over them. This palace is for the king of the largest tribe, the Buganda. You can see his palace in the background behind Pastor Rogers and I. 
5. Our kids are doing well. We have had a few with malaria in the past couple of weeks, but everyone seems to be recovering well. Our only child who is weak physically right now is Lisa, who has TB. Thanks to all of you who are praying for her. I have included a picture of her with 3 other girls. Lisa is the 2nd from the left in the picture. (The others are, from left, Doreen, Brenda 2 and Magdalene in front.) 

We had some Ugandan issues today in trying to finish the work in Mbale, so I am finishing this email at home under my mosquito net. It is 9:15 pm now...11:15 am for you on the west coast of the US. Hopefully the pictures will come through for you.

Thank you all for your great support of what we are doing here in Budaka! Your prayers, your money, your emotional support...they all are making a difference in many peoples' lives here. The 2013 Cornerstone calendar will be all about the effects of Cornerstone Ministries on all of us, both here in Budaka and in the States. I'll let you know when they are available for sale...another one of our small businesses that support this work!

Have a great day!

Laurie

Sep 3

Friends and Family:

It's a great Monday morning here - it's just after midnight Monday for you on the west coast of the States - the sun is shining, it's about 75 degrees. I have just delivered banana and chocolate muffins to 4 places in Mbale, stopped to pick up 2 amoxacillan (sp?) tablets since I forgot mine in Budaka :(. But at least here in Uganda I can get any medicine without a prescription! 2 tablets were 200 shillings, or about 10 cents. Not bad.


Graduation
On Saturday I spoke at a graduation party for one of our church members, Difasi. He has gone back to school and received his bachelor's degree in veterinary science. He already had completed a certificate program some years ago in this discipline. The party began at 9am, which in Uganda means you don't come till 1pm or so. The first picture is of Pastor Rogers and I sitting and waiting...at 1pm. Notice there are no people there yet...The program actually began at 1:30. The 2nd picture is of Difasi coming through the "graduation arch." He is cutting the ribbon, signifying that he has completed his schooling. There were many speeches - mine was the first and I spoke for only about 10 minutes (with interpretation). At about 4:30, there were still speakers, they had set up another tent (for a total of 5) and all chairs were full. Abby and I left then - I was still a bit weak from the sickness last week - and talked with Pastor Rogers at 6pm. The speeches were still going on! The party finally broke up about 7pm. Too many speeches for me - I think there were 18 scheduled, and some of those invited others to come and say "a few words" while they were speaking.

Saturday Special
We had 4 kids again this weekend (on Sunday because of the graduation party) for games, books and fun together. I have included a picture of the 4 with me. They are, from the left, Brenda 2, Vanessa, Stephen and Bartholomew. They got to play with Legos and I made a video of them telling about the object they had made - trying to encourage creative thinking. We played a shape/color Bingo game, tossed bean bags into a basin and read books. At the end, they each get a treat. Yesterday it was a Jolly Rancher. The last picture is all of us looking in my (very dusty) mirror at the colors on our tongues! (For most of these children, it is the first time to see themselves in a mirror. Fun on many levels!)

Leadership Team outing
Last night we had the Leadership Team down (8 children - 2 are on suspension right now for behavior issues) and showed them pictures of the Mars Rover, talked about planets and stars, got online to show them what a parachute looks like falling from the sky, and had planned to show them Mars in the sky, but the weather didn't cooperate. Another day we will show them. It is so amazing to talk with them about outer space - they have no concept. We showed them a picture of the earth from outer space - really difficult to wrap their minds around. It doesn't look like all the drawn pictures they have seen.

A Visitor is Coming
We're so excited to welcome Ellen this Friday - she is coming to spend 3 months with us, helping in the bakery, teaching science for the 4th and 5th graders, hanging out with our kids, teaching Sunday School, and, I'm sure, many many other things. The kids, the church and the school are really looking forward to having her, as are Abby and I!


My body is on the mend...after changing antibiotics Friday...and I feel much stronger today! Thanks for praying! We have 3 with malaria right now - Brenda 1, Natasha and Isaac. Please pray for them. Also, continue to pray for Lisa who has TB. She's getting better by the day, but it is a long process.

God bless you all. Thank you for your support emotionally (emails, phone calls, fb messages), financially and spiritually. You are all great partners in what God is doing here in Budaka.

Laurie

Aug 27th - Uganda or Egypt?

Greetings, Friends and Family!

As I went "out back" (Ugandan euphemism for going to the latrine) the other evening, I couldn't help but think we were in Egypt instead of Uganda...and many years in the past. There were frogs everywhere in the yard! (Sometimes there are as many as 20 frogs on our front porch in the evenings.) When I got to the latrine, there were gnats galore on the walls, the floor and even on the toilet seat. Earlier in the day there had been flies in the hundreds (okay, maybe dozens) also in the latrine. So, we have 1/3 of the plagues that God brought on the people of Egypt. (And, of course, don't forget about our chickens dying last year. So, actually almost 1/2 of the plagues!) Checking jerry cans for any water that has turned to blood...

Okay, on to more serious issues.

Today was the first day of 3rd term at Cornerstone Primary Day and Boarding School. Our kids have had a great vacation time, but they are always anxious for their other friends to return for school. However, when they had to get up at 5:30am to get ready, they were not so excited ;)

Our Leadership Kids (10 of our older children who are being trained as leaders) came 3x a week during the holiday to do traditional crafts down at the visitors' side of our duplex. After their craft time on Saturday, they were playing on the sand hill outside our front door. I have included 4 pics of them playing King of the Hill. Well, the first one I asked them stand nicely so you could see them...and the 4th one was after they were tuckered out from playing and throwing each other off. Just thought you'd enjoy seeing our kids being kids!

Also on Saturday, we bring a group of 4 or 5 kids to our house for some extra-curricular fun school work. This week we had 4 of the youngest ones: Lisa, Isaac, Magdalene and Doreen. I have included 2 pictures - one where they are playing with legos and the other where Teacher Abby is reading to them. Many of you gave the Legos last year for us to bring. Thank you again for this help with learning colors, spacial relationships, sharing and talking about things you have made. Many of you also gave books for the kids to read. We let them each choose a book and then we read each of their books to all of them, pointing out words, colors, shapes and animals they may know. They LOVE to be read to...even the older kids really enjoy when either Teacher Abby or I read to them.

Thanks to all of you who pray for us. Some of you know that I have been quite sick this week...first they thought malaria, then TB. But, turns out it's "just" an acute upper respiratory infection. Glad to be able to come to Mbale today after 4 days of bed rest and 2 days of minimal activities. Thanks again for praying!

We have 2 new staff members, Noah and Jackson. They replace Guster (the "dad") and David (the cook) who has become now the night watchman. We are looking for an additional person now who can be a sales person for the bakery, who will be paid a minimal salary with commission for sales over a certain amount. I'd like to have someone in place within the next 2 weeks so we can begin training him/her. The bakery is at a juncture and with the right person can expand exponentially now.

It's time to go home and rest again, so I will say goodbye for now. Thanks to all of you who write and tell me about your lives. I love hearing what's happening in the States with all of you. Thank you, too, to all of you who support Cornerstone in so many ways. I appreciate you!

Laurie

Aug 20th - Monday greetings!

The Bakery
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