Mumutumba

Saturday November 15th 2008


Today is the 5 year anniversary of the partnership between Hope 4 Kids International and True Vine Ministries. There was a celebration on site with singing, dancing, basketball and volleyball matches, and bike races.

The Seaside Team picked up Pastor's Justin and Jessca and travelled to Butacho to have lunch with Pastor Justin's family. We were welcomed by his family and treated to a great feast.


We stopped off in Busia to buy some chicken feed for the chicken project. We also purchased some rice and beans so both churches at Mumutumba and Butacho could celebrate the building of the new church at Butacho through the generous sponsorship of Maximum Impact.




After leaving Pastor Justin's we stopped in Mumutumba to say our goodbye's until next years visit. The childrens choir sang and danced for us to the beat of the drums. Kirk video taped a message to Seaside Church from Pastor Jessca and Moses thanking the Lord for all He has done through Seaside.

Internet back up!

Finally, the internet comes back up the night before we are to leave. I will post photos later as it is 2:30 am here. We are leaving for church service at True Vine 9am then onto Entebbee for our long journey home.
I wish you could all travel with Desiree, Mikhaila, and I to Uganda to see firsthand all that God is accomplishing here. Perhaps you can join us next summer to serve as His hands and feet to help meet the needs of His children in Africa, or continue to participate in the work through prayer, support for Seaside projects, or help with organizing and planning the next trip.
Thank you all for your prayers.

A Busy and Rewarding Week

Here are the updates prepared to post while the internet was down. It was an awesome week!

Friday 11/14/08
Today was the men’s conference at Smile Africa. Four mzungu men taught the local men how to be a better father, husband and man according to the Bible. Michael, who has been a Christian for seven months gave his testimony. The men attending were from areas close to Smile Africa with approximately 50 being Karamajong. All teaching was done through a interpreter in both Swahili and Karamajong languages. Lunch was provided under the iron shelter after torrential rain washed us out of the shade tents. The day was finished with prayer and a tie given to the men.
Some of the team travelled to Sabunga to dedicate a church, medical clinic and water well built by Church of Joy in Phoenix. 500 people turned up to celebrate.

John, Larry, Kirk and Laurie picked up Pastor Jessca and Pastor Justin from True Vine where they had been in Seminary school all week and then travelled to Mumutumba to visit the church site and see Moses. News was broken to Pastor Justin that another Seaside connection, Maximum Impact, is funding the building of a new church, medical clinic, a water well and chicken coop. He was overjoyed and speechless for a few minutes. When he regained his speech he threw his arms up in the air and thanked the Lord.


Thursday 11/13/08
Today, the Seaside Team and some of the main team travelled up to Bupoto which is in the mountains of Uganda. Tom Eggum and Pastor Wilbur and Pastor Agri accompanied us. It is beautiful countryside with streams, waterfalls, jungle, bananas on the hill sides, palms, and coffee growing. We travelled up the mountain on a dirt road which is impassable in the rain, and God saw to it that no rain fell while we were up there.
When we arrived at the village, people came running down the mountain trail to welcome us with singing, dancing, shaking of hands and hugs. A big “Welcome” sign hung between two mud huts.
We went to Bupoto to celebrate the dedication of the new church sponsored by Seaside. The old church which is made of mud and nearly falling down is a short distance away. The old church was leased from the owner, so this new church truly is a blessing to them. A church service was held with the children and sponsored children singing praise to our Lord. Pastor John of Seaside gave a sermon through an interpreter on being strong in the Lord and how He loves them and bless them. He gave an invitation to come to Christ and 6 stepped forward. What a glorious day. Clifis, the director of orphan sponsorship at True Vine led the church in worship and had the crowd jumping. Lunch consisting of chicken, goat, rice, matoke (plantain/banana), tomato sauce and porsha was served in the church.
Today was also the last day of the women’s health conference.

Wednesday 11/12/08
This morning I went to Smile Africa Karamajong site to visit with Amos and Steven to talk about the men’s day this Friday. The 420 Karamajong children are fed each day by Pastor Ruth and staff. The children are the extremely poor and dress in rags or are naked. Smile Africa through donations has built a place to bath, a latrine, a kitchen (that has saved tremendous time compared to cooking over an open fire), and a medical clinic. Words cannot describe the emotion you feel when arriving at the site with 420 children singing “Thank you for coming”. The children are all over you literally, hanging onto your arms, legs and any part that can grab hold of.
This afternoon Larry, John, Kirk and Laurie arrived tired and weary after a long trip from the US. After freshening up we went to the True Vine Ministries site. We met up with Pastor Wilbur and toured the site with him explaining the vision he has for True Vine and to spread the word of God. In 5 years of partnering with Hope 4 Kids, a tremendous amount has been completed.
While we were touring the girls dorm Laurie saw their sponsored child and gave her a huge hug. Although Laurie had never seen her in person, she recognized her from the photos.
I also met up with our sponsored child and gave her a hug showing her some photos of Desiree and Mikhaila.
I met with Pastor Eric tonight at the hotel and gave him the literature brought from the US. He requested some help on fighting cults here in East Africa. Cults are growing at an alarming rate and need to be combated.

Tuesday 11/11/08
This morning I met with Pastor Agre to discuss a men’s ministry and how can we help. He stated that he had a calling to implement a men’s ministry throughout True Vine. To do so, meant training his male Pastors and the material I brought with me would help tremendously. He asked if I could acquire more of these books so the Pastors could use them as well. He also stated that with the men we must touch the flesh before we can touch the heart. Perhaps the extra ties could be used for this.
Caroline (our sponsored child) ran up to me this morning smiling. We talked (me asking questions, she answering) for 5 minutes before she ran off to class.
This afternoon back at True Vine, the school put on a show for us of singing and dancing. Man, can they dance, unbelievable.
Some of the team also met their orphans, some of whom were at the True Vine School and others brought in from other schools surrounding Tororo. Hope 4 Kids do a great job with the Orphan Program. Caroline and I had another get together and Elizabeth took our photo.
The rest of the team was at the women’s festival at Smile Africa. They had presentations on women’s health issues, success in business and medical outreach including acupuncture. From all accounts tonight the first day of the festival was a great success.

Safe Arrival!

Pastors Larry and John, and Kirk and Laurie Evans arrived safe and sound in Tororo yesterday and will be visiting the Seaside-family sponsored village of Bupoto today. Please keep them all in prayer for health, strength, wisdom, and safe journeys. Mark said the hotel has been without internet access for two days. He will post pictures and an update as soon as the hotel gets internet access again.

True Vine Day

Monday 11/10/08
Today I went and visited Pastor Ruth at Smile Africa and Pastor Jane at True Vine with the Solar Powered Oven. They both loved it and thought it would be good for widows as then they did not have to search for firewood or buy charcoal. Both of them will begin to look into getting sponsored for the big oven which would produce an income as well as feed the orphanage and local Karamajong children.

Afterwards we gave the oven to Grace who is a HIV+ widow who takes care of her own children as well as her grandchildren. A couple of months ago her house was burnt out and she lost nearly all her possessions. She was very happy to receive the oven and started to cook some greens right away.

I meet Caroline our orphan today at True Vine. She looks well and is happy. She liked the photographs of her with Desiree and Mikhaila and her new red shirt. It was only a short visit as she had to get back to school.

Mumutumba

Sunday 11/9/08
This morning I attended church in Mumutumba and was greeted by Pastor’s Jessca and Justin. They asked the question I knew was coming, “Come and preach, they are waiting”. I did not know that I could talk for 20 minutes straight and I did not have Desiree to bail me out. After much dancing and singing (not me, ever heard my voice, makes dogs howl) we prayed over the sick, people with family problems, housing problems, children problems and everything else. Pastor Jessca had lunch planned so we sat and had chicken, pork, rice, porsha, pineapple and chapatti. Pastor Justin and I talked about men’s bible studies and how we can support him.



Last July, the two youngest boys of Joseph had scabies. After much work from Desiree and Elizabeth in July with the medicated soap and special lotion and then after we left Joseph took them to the Medical clinic regularly. I am very happy to report the two boys are free from scabies. They were smiling and even giggling which has never been seen since we have been coming over here. The roof on Joseph’s mud hut has been replaced with new grass and keeps the torrential rain out each night. That also helped with the boy’s recovery as their bedding is no longer wet. Here is a perfect example of making a difference in someone’s life. The joy on their faces is something I will never forget and by their reaction to our help, neither will they.

I met up with Timothy the artist and passed on the art supplies etc to him from Elizabeth. He was extremely grateful as he did not know where he was going to get supplies for school. Photo coming your way Elizabeth.

Arrival in Uganda

Saturday 11/8/08
Pastor’s Wilbur, Agre and Hillary warmly greeted us in Entebbe. It was great to see them again. They make you feel like you have known them for many many years. After 27 hrs of travelling I finally crawled into bed ready for a good night’s sleep at the hotel in Entebbe.
Saturday morning was a 7:30am start as the majority team is travelling to Fort Portal to visit Sunshine House, an orphanage that has partnered with Hope4Kids.
Rachel Eggum, Carolyn, Donna and I took a van to Tororo. We stopped and had chicken on a stick and a nice cold Stoney’s. Alongside the road near Tororo, the baboons came out looking for something to eat. Old Split Nose was the first one up.
Rachel and the ladies have to start setting up for the 3 day women’s festival at Smile Africa and I have to finish preparing my sermon, as there is the possibly of preaching in Mumutumba on Sunday. I feel nervous about that prospect as I am no Bible scholar but then God has his plan.