| I have been very busy from the moment I returned from the United States. I got to be a part of a presentation/worship session by Called Christians and The Bridge Calvary Chapel. We have also begun teaching by Zoom in the main prison, and four of the prisons are now allowing us in to teach. We are also about to purchase 4,000 blankets to supply to nine prisons. And we are teaching two women’s Bible studies in two different villages while also coordinating two local evangelism outreaches. At three schools, the bore holes that provide clean water are broken so the children have been drawing drinking water from a local swamp in the same place the cattle come to drink. We have repaired one bore hole and the children now have clean water. We are praying about funding to repair the other two, (about $400 each). Kids are going back to school—some have already started, and others will begin soon. We will have several young people in trade schools for mechanics, plumbing, social work, and culinary skills. Lastly, someone has donated the funds to build a clinic in the village of the Clinical Officer that we have raised and sponsored. He has bought land and has plans for the clinic, which will focus primarily on maternity and pediatric care. Building on the Jesse Rich Memorial Clinic will begin in two weeks. Debbie Rogers has also provided this update on some of the projects we have been working on: Worship Day The prison warden (the operational commander or OC) invited a group of ten volunteers from Called Christians into the main men’s prison for a few hours of worship one Friday morning. They specifically asked for a keyboard player; not the way your grandma plays keyboard, but someone with energy. They loved the keyboard; we also sent in a beat box, a guitar, and people to sing and dance. We were supposed to start at 10 am, but this is Africa—they did not get started until after 11 am but they sang for a long time. One of the volunteers danced and sang for an hour straight. Afterwards, Pastor Mugoya Joel gave a message on Psalm 27 and four men were saved. The group stayed at the prison praising, worshiping, and dancing until about 3 pm. They returned to the Called Christians compound full of smiles and stories about how God used them. One young man who played the drum box said his arms hurt so much from playing for so long, but he did not care; he felt so blessed to be used by God. The volunteer who danced said he was a little sore the next day, but he had so much joy from serving that he did not care. A speaker/karaoke machine was donated to the women’s prison. The prisons in Uganda are still locked down and have had no visitors for over a year now. The karaoke machine they used before to listen to worship music and to sing and dance broke. Two women delivered the new speaker and they immediately plugged it in and began worshiping. The music was so loud, you could not talk over it. The women were shouting with joy. The women’s OC gave us some pots the prisoners had made as a thank you. (See first included picture of the box the speaker came in. Volunteers had written words of encouragement on the outside of the box.) One lady who does not speak English had a woman translate an entire letter to the prisoners to encourage them to stand strong and trust in God, which was read to the prisoners when the speaker was delivered. (See second picture of the pots with the women’s teacher Loyce, her daughter Haddassah, who just loves to be in pictures, and Timothy, the driver.) Our prison ministry has been trying to operate inside the lockdown restrictions by sending in weekly messages on paper (old school letters back and forth). When prisoners are released, they are given a little money for transportation back to their home village but sometimes it is not enough. Some of those prisoners come to the Called Christians compound looking for help to get home; we give them some transport money and prayers. In March, a man was released from the main prison and he came to the compound looking for help with transportation. The only thing he took with him from prison was a stack of those weekly messages he had written notes on. He was so happy showing the volunteer what he learned. We were able to encourage him and pray with him, give him a little transport money, and send him on his way. We also send a monthly letter into the prisons that are not located in Jinja. Once a month, the prison leader drives around to the other prisons delivering a written message and some soap, razors, and hand sanitizer. We sent in prayer cards to see if anyone wanted prayer and got back a five-inch stack of requests. We received so many requests that we organized a time of prayer so additional volunteers could be brought in to pray over these prisoners’ requests, and we now meet once a month to pray for the ministry and prisoners’ requests. (See picture of two volunteers with boxes of soap being delivered to a prison.) Hospital/Benevolence A case was brought to us of a mentally disturbed woman who had been attacked. We know she was beaten and robbed, but we are not sure what else happened beyond that. They beat her in the head with a crowbar so severely that it tore a chunk out of the side of her face and damaged her teeth/gums inside her mouth. Another Christian organization in Jinja (dentists) performed surgery to repair her mouth and face. We provided prayer, pain medication, and liquid food. She was in the hospital for a few months. We eventually found out her name was Sandra. She slowly remembered things and declared one day, “I am from Kenya!” So, when she was ready to be released, we gave her some food, money for transport back to her village in Kenya, and extra pocket money for her to get started when she returned. (See two pictures: one with her mouth wired shut while she was healing, and one on the day she was released from the hospital). Hospital Prayer (Weekly at Main Hospital) Our hospital prayer team is getting ready to head back in and pray each week with people. We have only been able to go in a few times with one or two people due to lockdown restrictions. During one case, two men went in to pray. One was helping Sandra and the other was moving from bed to bed praying. When I asked him about his experience, he said it is so dark there; people are without hope, and it is vital that we get back inside to pray for people again. He told me of times that even Muslims were asking for prayer; he said they were desperate and asked him for prayer even knowing that he was a Christian. He recalled being in the diabetes ward that day, and the smell was horrible due to people’s skin rotting off their bodies. He prayed for one woman named Janet, who was in danger of losing her foot (puss was running down her foot). He prayed fervently for God to help this woman. As he was praying, he was reminded of another woman he prayed for in the past. She was in town from Rwanda for a conference and broke her leg in an accident. The hospitals in Uganda work differently than hospitals in the US. The hospital does not provide medication or food; you bring an attendant that provides these items for you. This woman had no one since she was here on a business trip. He recalled praying with her and taking her food and medication until she was released and returned to Rwanda. Pray for us so we can get back in and minister to people. We are hoping we will be able to Friday, April 9. Neighborhoods (Danida & Bugembe) In 2021, we added Bugembe to our neighborhood outreach ministry. In Bugembe, most of the population identifies as Muslim, with a small group of Mormons. We thought we would go and evangelize for a year and God would clear the path for a Bible study to start, but God had other plans. We evangelized in one neighborhood and fifteen people came to a Bible study the first day. God even provided a location for us to meet. We continue to go each week and are seeing lives changed. A woman recently asked a volunteer what he was doing to her husband, who she said was an abusive drunk, but since he had been attending Bible study over the past few weeks, he had stopped drinking and had been nicer to her. She asked us to keep doing whatever we were doing. (See picture of one of the first Bible studies.) Villages/Women’s Bible School Every Thursday we hold a women’s Bible study in one of two villages: Iguluibi and Lumuli (villages have no paved roads and are usually at least a twenty-minute drive off the main highway). We spend one week at Iguluibi and the next week at Lumuli. (See picture of road to village lined with sugar cane). A young single mother named Sarah has been attending the Iguluibi women’s Bible study for about four years. She walks 4.3 miles one way every other Thursday to attend. We recently held a meeting in the village to talk about starting a women’s Bible school there. Sarah came and helped cook a meal for us to eat even though it was 10:30 in the morning; she is very excited for the Bible School to start. We are anticipating a start date of September or October, with a two-year curriculum. We are currently finalizing the plans and curriculum. Food is very important in Uganda. Whenever you visit a village, they want to feed you. Normally they serve matoke (mah-toe-kay) bananas that are steamed or boiled, some sort of boiled or roasted meat, and rice. It could come with g-nut sauce (ground roasted peanut sauce) or greens (collard greens or kale). All of this is cooked on little charcoal stoves in villages. Women in Uganda have a lot of responsibilities at home and after having a discussion, we determined it was not practical to have women come to the Called Christians compound for a Bible school. They cook on charcoal stoves each day; they even heat water for cleaning and bathing on the stove. In addition, they tend to gardens so their family can eat, watch kids, and clean. We are hoping to take the school to them to raise up women who can raise up other women (to make disciples who can make disciples). We currently have a women’s Bible school on the Called Christians campus for pastors’ wives. There are six women attending and the plan is to have them help teach at the women’s Bible school in the village. (See picture of these women celebrating when they completed their first book on inductive study method). Schools There are “scripture union” in schools in Uganda. Students meet over their lunch hour to worship, practice scripture drills/verse memorization, hear a teaching, and eat their lunch. Called Christians has relationships with five schools (only two are meeting currently, due to COVID; the other schools will begin meeting in April and May). A Called Christians pastor teaches once a week at each school. We have also been holding a Sunday church service at two of the schools. We are currently looking for ways to expand this ministry and pour into these kids more. They range in age from eight to eighteen years old. Most of these schools are boarding schools. This is where we met Esther, a Muslim convert to Christianity. Her dad tried to drown her when he found out she had become a follower of Jesus. She was exiled and now lives with her grandmother in Jinja. We helped her with school fees and a little extra money so they could start selling food as a business. (See picture of Esther). God bless you and thank you for everything you do for the Lord. Beverly and Called Christians |
Jinja Uganda Mission