| Greetings from Uganda—the Pearl of Africa—and from Called Christians mission! Things are finally opening up around here again. Uganda’s COVID numbers have dropped, people are being urged to get the vaccine, and we can do our ministries again. Praise the Lord! We are now able to preach again in the prisons (those who have been vaccinated), and we are again teaching in seven prisons. Our remote Bible studies in the villages of Danida, Iguluibi, Bugembe, and Lumuli are meeting again, and people are coming by the dozens to hear God’s Word because they are starved for it. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Ann Wibbenmeyer’s small School of Ministry for the pastors’ wives is happily meeting again, and Ann has started a new women’s Bible School in the village of Waibale that meets once every week. |
There was an announcement last week that Uganda’s schools have been closed for seventy-seven weeks—the longest school closure in the world. This week makes seventy-eight, and even though trade schools and universities are trying to open November 1, primary and secondary schools will not open until January. One of our goals at Called Christians is to share the gospel through educating our young people. During the COVID lockdowns, our schoolboys have been working on the compound, learning skills like carpentry, roofing, and masonry. And our compound repairs look really good.
Now that schools are about to reopen, a fabulous couple from America has given us a large amount of funding to use to send these young men to school. We are so thrilled and grateful! There are six young men that we will be sponsoring in addition to the older ones that are still in our program. Two of the new boys are still in high school. Of the others, one has started school for catering, one will work to become a welder, one will study computer engineering, and one will go to school to become a Clinical Officer (like a Nurse Practitioner and Physician’s Assistant rolled into one). In Uganda, without an education, you can usually do no more in life than dig on a farm, be a porter for construction or in a shop, or become a day laborer in some factory and not even make enough money to feed yourself and your family each day. So, for these young men, getting any kind of education is their chance to make a living for themselves and their future families. We are all more than grateful for this chance. (We also have girls in school, but all of our girls are already in the program. No new ones this year. Peace and Beverly Toolit will be coming to live with me and go to university here in Jinja, even though we are not sponsoring their school fees.)
Another praise is that Living Stone Calvary Chapel in Cañon City, Colorado, has raised funds to help our village pastors start income-generating projects so that they can support themselves and their families while sharing the gospel and leading their churches. They often struggle to make a living. It turns out that the pastors in the deepest villages can make a very good living by running a grain mill—grinding grains like maize, cassava, millet, and sorghum. Two of the pastors received grain mills last week and are both already in business. Even the people in their churches are celebrating having these mills in their villages. If you have Facebook, you can see a video of one of the congregations dancing and singing with joy about the mill.
Some of the pastors that lived closer to village centers found that the diesel-powered grain mills were not a good investment for them. They would have needed electric mills for double the price. After some brainstorming, two of the pastors were started with shops to sell goods, as well as obtaining a cow so they could sell milk and calves. Another pastor received a motorcycle and can make a good living in his village as a boda-boda, or motorcycle taxi, carrying people and goods. This is the way most people get from place to place if they want to ride instead of walk. Another pastor makes his living by ferrying goods and people in a lorry, but his lorry was wrecked last month, so we were able (through Living Stone’s donation) to fund the repairs of this truck so he can get to work again. This is really important right now because the Christmas season is coming, and that is the best time of year to make money to help get through the rest of the year.
And last but not least, an interesting Uganda story! We have many monitor lizards in Uganda, sometimes reaching over six feet long. Most people are terrified of them and scream and run the other way when one is around. (Many people think they are demons.) Last week, one got into our house. It was about two feet long and ended up hiding behind some file cabinets as people were screaming and jumping onto furniture. I am not afraid of these lizards (maybe I should be?) so I got a broom and one of the bravest men, and we moved the cabinets so I could get to the lizard. It couldn’t move very well on the tile floor because of its claws, so after a long battle, I pinned it to the floor with the broom. One of the other men ran and got a large rubbish bucket with a lid, and we managed to sweep the lizard into it. Mission accomplished!
Our mission statement says that we are about making disciples who make disciples who make disciples, and we do this through evangelism, education, health, and publishing. We are all working together at Called Christians, in partnership with The Bridge Calvary Chapel, to reach Uganda with the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. You and we are all on “God’s Team” and we all want to see the ranks of heaven swell with people of every tribe, tongue and nation. Thank you for being a great part of this work. May God bless and keep you always. May His face shine upon you. May He be the lifter of your head.
Love always in Christ,
Beverly Rich