Follow the Leader

Here we are again.  Another month has past.  New experiences have been had, and new memories have been made.  Every day since we have come to Uganda has been an adventure.  We rarely know what to expect, but we trust and know that we are being held in the palm of God's hand.  We have been amazed by how everything has come together during our time here.  Some has been disappointing, but most has been very encouraging and fulfilling.

We have recently come to a decision that has resulted in a change of plans for us in the near future.  Everything we were assigned to oversee while we are here has been completed.  All that is left for us is to organize and host short term mission projects and teams.  There is no longer a need for us to be in Uganda full time to fill that role.  As a result, we will be moving back to the US in February of 2019.

Our time here has been a very successful.  We have hosted several teams, completed several short term projects, completed larger projects such as the poultry house and garden/greenhouse, built many life-long relationships with local Ugandans, and acquired many useful contacts for future short term trips/projects.

Even though we will not be here full time beginning in February, we are already organizing trips to come back after we leave.  We plan to do another medical camp in April, and we have two church groups scheduled to come back with us next summer to do a building project and other outreaches.

We plan to host all of those teams and all other future teams at a local hotel near Mukono called African Village that is owned and operated by a wonderful ministry here called Vision For Africa.  This will eliminate the expense of the large property where we have been living and hosting teams, and it will not increase the overall trip expense for individual team members.

We have 4 months to make sure that we leave everything here in Uganda well.  We are going to make the most of the time that is left.  We plan to build 2 pit latrines for elderly widows in October.  We will host Brandon and Erica Kanagy in November, while building 2 rooms onto another widow's small home.  In December we will host the Waitman family as well as Jess and Hallie Clark as we all work together to conduct a basketball camp at Nation Changers Primary School.

Now to share some of our memories from this past month:

Our kids joined a dance troop from church that traveled to a village
church to both perform and to hand out clothes to children there.

Pat Lee and Bev Forthun from Williston, ND raised over $1800 to
supply the GOD training center with new equipment.

We met with our feed supplier for the chickens, and they agreed to
lower the price of feed.  At this point we are both saving money to
pay for future chickens, and giving each child at Victor's
school 3 eggs a week!

Pastor Jon Nichols from New Life Christian Center in Turlock, CA
came and stayed with us for a little over a week.  We had a great
time of fellowship with him.

Andrew, Pastor Jon, and Pastor Adam (on left) paid a visit to Pastor Peter (center)
who pastors a congregation in the village of Kitoola.  Our hope is to build a
church for his congregation next summer.  The land for the buuilding is
directly behind them.

All the bricks that Andrew helped a friend make are in the process of drying
within the next few weeks they will be burned and ready for sale.

Andrew, Pastor Jon, Pastor Adam, and Pastor Fiona (pink dress)
all visited two widows in a village near Nkonkonjeru who
are in need of a pit latrine.  We plan to build each of them
a latrine during this next month of October.

The next crop of vegetables has been planted into the ground.  Now we
are praying for plenty of rain and another great harvest!  Thanks to
everyone that gave towards the expenses of this season.

The greenhouse is growing strong!  We have been harvesting green bell peppers
for most of the month, and tomatoes and eggplant for half the month.

To finish out this month we were invited to stay at a campground near Lake
Victoria as compensation for Andrew speaking at the camp's church.

We were invited to come to the campground by Kevin and Angela Blank and
their family.  We had such a wonderful and fun time together.

The views of the lake from where we stayed at the campground were Amazing!

On the way home from the campground we had some car trouble.  We got
to sit along the side of the road for a few hours, but we still had a good time.

That pretty much sums it up.  Thanks again for all of you that help to make our time here possible.  We still have 4 months here in Uganda, so we are still in need of any financial support we can get.  You are welcome to give online by clicking HERE.  This has been, and will continue to be an amazing experience for our family.  We believe the Lord has been able to do so much through us to make a positive impact on the lives of others.  We are sooooo grateful for this opportunity!  We are going to enjoy the time we have left, and we are excited to make the transition home in February.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!