This time of COVID-19 has created issues around the world and the mission field is not exempt from that change. However, God is bigger and more powerful than COVID and God has not given us a spirit of fear. That is the mind we went with and we saw God show up and it was wonderful.
There were some things which were honestly very hard to swallow and deal with however, we did and many people were blessed.
This report will be a bit different than what you are used to seeing in past years due to the different circumstances surrounding the trip. Schools were all closed and children normally living at the schools were living either with family members or in a temporary foster situation pending the ability to bring them back. The only school which still had the children on location was Grace Children’s Home. There is no place to send them as these are the children who have been rescued from human trafficking and abusive situation among other things. I will highlight and show what is new and going on there.
Our building projects and other projects were put on the back burner and dealing with the need for food became the priority both in 2020 and 2021. Particularly on this trip. Because they are a cash society, the country being locked down has been particularly difficult for may people. These same people who would do something to earn money during the day and purchase food on the way home could not do so. It was particularly harsh for the elderly and single moms.
FOOD DISTRIBUTION:
Truckloads of food were purchased. Flour, rice, beans, sugar, oil, and in some cases pasta type noodles were brought in and broken down into individual bags which could be carried home.
More than just one day worth of food was given. The idea was to give enough for one meal per day and to try and make the rations proportioned for the number of members of a family. Some of the families had more than one child and we needed to try and insure that there was enough food to go around.
We served people from two villages as well as police and in one case military families. The living conditions of the police and the military families were beyond sad. The fact that they are also going without food is ridiculous. Police living with a family in one room shanty type housing and soldiers living with a family in houses as small as the tool shed in my back yard and not quite as nice.
We also fed Muslims who came for the food. Yes, it has gotten so bad that Muslims were coming to Christians to eat. That is not normal in a place where the lines of religion are very clearly drawn.
We fed anyone who showed up and needed to eat. In a developing nation, you do not have to worry about verifying if they truly are in need or not.
We purchased more than one truck load of food.
The trucks were off loaded and dividing the food began.
Many recipients were Muslim. Of them we saw conversions to Christianity as we were the only ones out feeding and it opened the door to talk about Jesus.
We even fed police and the families of the officers. They have a COPS Fellowship and this is the mud floor tin wall place where they worship. They have no music and sing. The pastor pictured here is the only one with a Bible. Those who can write, will write down the scripture and take it home to re-read. We do plan to keep in contact with them. The facilities they live in are not much better than the small church they have made here. They would like to have fellowship with some American Police. We will work on that as well.
In this picture you can see several Muslim women who had come for food. We turned no one away from God’s provision. It gave us an opportunity to talk to them. No Mosques were open and there was no feeding program from Muslim, government or other Christian groups we could find there. Because of your support CII was the only one by God’s grace, getting the job done.
Just a small portion of the people we helped who wanted to say Thank You America.
There were multiple groups like this. Between all we had done, we had a total over 4,000
And we will continue as long as donation for this provision keep coming in.
HELPING OUR PASTORS:
About two weeks before our arrival Uganda experienced an earthquake in the southwestern region of Rakki on the way to Tanzania.
Part of our Alpha Learning Center was damaged. A wall for a classroom which is being built and the toilets were knocked down. It also knocked down a portion of Pastor Vincent’s home.
We left pastor Vincent enough Money not only to repair the damage to the school and continue the building project but, I also informed him to use some of the concrete purchased to repair his home. We are not just about helping the children but, in these times, we are not going to leave our pastors without food or a place to live. He should be able to rebuild the brick wall of his home that fell and salvage the roofing. They do not have home owner’s insurance and it will not use much of the concrete to fix the wall to his home. We cannot leave a brother in need like that. Vincent has done a fantastic job getting the building up and going at Alpha. Not to mention that he has begun to replace the mud church next door to the school with a new much larger brick church.
You may recall that this is the place where the children were writing lessons in chalk on the outside walls of the church because the chalk showed up very well in the manure mud mix.
We now have a school there and the damage from the earthquake will be repaired and the school will move forward.
JIREH SCHOOL TO MOVE:
The Ugandan Road Authority has decided to widen the road leading from Rakki down to Tanzania. In that process they have gone along the road and spray painted large white arrows on many homes and other buildings.
They are supposed to purchase the land and compensate the owners for the lad they are taking. Our school has two such buildings. They are of course the two completed and good-looking buildings totaling four classrooms. It is also at one of the locations where one of our Sticks to Bricks kitchens is being built. There is also a well there.
That being said, since all schools are closed down due to COVID, Pastor Dick is taking advantage of the close down and has already begun moving the school to the new land.
As much of the classrooms that can be salvaged like bricks and tin roofing as well as windows and doors will be disassembled and moved to the land we purchased about a half mile from the current school. This includes the kitchen and the new ovens, which were being installed until the buildings were marked for confiscation and tear down.
We will move forward and “IF” the government keeps its word and we get paid for the land and the well, we will put that money into the school on the new land.
The new land is actually much larger and will house the school better. It is going to be a drawn-out process and it will not be much fun but, we will get it done and prevail. We are looking at this as more of a bump in the road, not a road block.
THE CHILDREN:
With the exception of Grace Children’s home, the children are either at home “OR” are staying with a foster family. By government mandate all schools have been closed due to COVID. Our pastors have had to work hard to find families for the orphaned children to stay with.
Grace Children’s home being so far back in the bush and out of sight still has all 78 children there. There is no place to send them except a government orphanage. That would be catastrophic as there would be the opportunity for abuse and rather than rescue, we would become an enabling means for trafficking and other horrid issues.
We do need beds again. Unfortunately the beds we can get our hands on do not always last.
We need beds and mattresses. So we are going to continue to raise money for feeding people in the villages and also to get some new beds.
GRACE CHILDREN’S HOME:
The kids are happy and healthy. Not one case of COVID. In fact the worst thing they had going on was a baby with Colic who has a breast-feeding mom that enjoys very spicy food. Baby not only had the colic but was getting spice that its little new born tummy was not near ready for.
Once we showed mom and dad how to handle the colic and advised mom to forgo the spices until finished breast-feeding, the baby began to do much better. In fact she is doing very much better and allowing both mom and dad to sleep now. The entire family is better and calmer.
The rest of our kids here are all doing very well. We were able to pass out some bracelets to them which came from America. They were more than thrilled.
Even with the building projects being put on the back burner until things get more back to normal, they have been able to get the outer building shell of the new kitchen in place. It will be three rooms. A cooking area, a pantry and a small one room place for the cook to live. There is still a lot of work to do, but we will get there in time and once the financial blessings head our way.
My concern here is the beds. Traumatized children tend to wet the bed a lot. Because of this issue there, the urine destroys mattresses and the bed frame welds. What happens is the welds give out. Then the broken beds need to be trucked out, fixed and brought back. It is actually more expedient to just buy new beds and then bring back the others once they have been rebuilt. It is not an easy transport and we could end up with children piled up in one bed which also wears out the frames.
What you are looking at here is the beginning of the Kitchen at Grace Children’s Home. The outer shell of the building is being worked on and it will need more work but again, building is on the back burner to food. The bad part to that is, if we are not careful, the needs such as beds and other items can face neglect.
And you know me, I can’t resist handing out the things supporters make and send for the kids. This is back in the bush so, they are all still here.
OUR OTHER SCHOOLS:
Rock of Joy, Remnant, and Dick & Jan are empty and standing just the way we left them. Dick & Jan did get the second level finished and it is looking wonderful. The kids will be so excited once they return.
FROM THE PRESIDENT:
When we were there, we were working with restrictions we had not had to observe before and did do our level best to adhere to the curfew. We did fail with respect to the curfew a few times. The traffic jams coming out of Kampala were horrid. Everyone had to be closed down and home by 7 PM. On several evenings we sat for more than 30 minutes without moving so much as a foot.
In a televised speech The President said that he was going to open the universities and also churches to hold church with a maximum of 200.
Schools remain closed until all teachers are vaccinated. He clearly said that no schools will open unless the teachers all get vaccinated.
He also threatened local authorities telling them that if they allowed any vaccine batch to expire before getting them out to people, they would be fired.
I have since being home learned that the current plan is to reopen schools by January if vaccinations are in place and completed.
OTHER ITEMS TO TALK ABOUT:
For me, this was the most difficult trip since my first trip in 2006. The very first thing that I noticed was that the flights were about 25% full. The flights were so empty people could take a full row and lay down and sleep during the flight. I had not seen anything like that since 2006 either.
What made the lack of people on the flights so disturbing was, “we were the only Christian Missionaries on the flight. THE ONLY ONES! There were plenty of Africans and Dutch business men and women, but, usually these flights are packed with Christians and churches going to Rwanda, Uganda and other places to do everything from sing, to feed to, whatever.
WE WERE THE ONLY ONES!!!!
What does that say? For me it was frustrating because I know, God does not stop sending His people because of COVID. Yes, it is more inconvenient to go on a mission trip. There can be no denying that. However, it is much more inconvenient to hang on a cross and that was done for us. I think we can endure the inconvenience.
I could not and still cannot seem to justify how the “HANDS AND FEET”, we always talk about were completely absent.
It made me feel like the hands are wearing mittens and the feet slippers. Just because there is a problem, it does not mean we should shrink and become a wall flower.
On my arrival to Uganda, once we had cleared customs and immigration, Things got worse. Pastor Steve has discovered Country and Western Music. Kampala has one station and it plays old C&W. Then the news came on.
The news was telling a story about how Ugandans are not getting the vaccine because they do not trust them and that it has been shown on SOCIAL MEDIA SUCH AS FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM among others, the Vaccine had Satan’s DNA in it and if you get the vaccine you are receiving the mark of the devil. !!!!!!!!!!!
They also talked about how the vaccine is magnetic and contains a tracking device. They are getting this all from social media coming out of the United States and the United Kingdom.
How stupid can people be to spread such conspiracy theories and frighten people in developing countries so bad, they are afraid to do what is needed to in order to save lives and people are dying because they do not have the facilities we do with respect to COVID. In a country where 60% of people are illiterate, seeing video and hearing such things come from Americans and the British makes things 100% believable and true thus, terrifying people who need to be protected. ALL FROM SOCIAL MEDIA. It is really my heart felt hope that CII members and supporters are NOT passing on these items. I personally have not been on social media since we left for Uganda and with the exception of posting ministry items, it is my intention to stay off. With all the problems doctors are showing with respect to depression among other things associated with social media, I am choosing to stay off.
I ended up on TV. I had preached four times that Sunday in two churches and had to destroy the falsehood of Satan’s DNA in the vaccine from a biblical and scientific approach. Our pastors were so grateful and so were the people who came to the special sessions that I was asked if I would go on TV and talk about the misinformation and bring up the points I had in the message.
The expression on the faces of people when I would inform them, they cannot receive Satan’s DNA because he does not have DNA, was amazing. So many people were set free by the message that I praise God for the words.
RETURNING:
We had been dropped off at the airport and we were asked for our document showing the were COVID Negative. Well they took that when we arrived. We were then informed we cannot even go inside the airport without an exit test!!! Well, no one told us that. We had no idea where to go and get one and we could not reach pastor Kimbowa as he was already driving back and was not picking up the phone. A very nice young lady told us to go to the clinic in the second level as they can do the test there but, we should go quickly so we do not miss our flight.
We get to the clinic and the rapid COVID test is $100 each and you get results in about two hours. That was going to make us really close to missing our flight. We kept calm, cool and collected. I have learned over the years in the mission field that freaking out, does no good at all. It is all in God’s hands and you deal with whatever gets sent your way.
OK, So, I was freaking out on the inside if I am being honest. But, the ladies at the clinic thought I was funny and they pushed the tests through for us. At that time, we pushed our luggage back up the road to the top level and other people who were trying to leave were now having the same problem. We went right through. We got to the ticket counter and through Customs and Immigration in record time and made it to the gate as the line was forming to board.
Yep, the Lord had it all under control. That is why I never travel without Him.
To Say they were thankful in Uganda would be the biggest understatement of the year. I was told by more than one of our pastors that I am an Apostle. That only an apostle would be so brave and bold as to commit to the mission under any circumstance to glorify the Lord.
My calling is of an Evangelist and it felt very strange to have such things said about me much less to me.
This is not to brag, but rather, to go along with what I brought to light earlier. The planes were empty.
WHY?