Hard to believe we've been gone nearly one month. When one is busy, time flies.
We had 4 more baptisms last Sunday and received word that the Church is looking for property to build a chapel on for the Gulu Branch. The BarDege/Laroo Branch bldging is rented as well but no immediate plans to build that I know of. Two of the baptisms were that of a mom and child whose husband joined the Church a few months before. FAMILIES...that is what the Church is all about...here on Earth and throughout eternity.
I was able to arrange through our Physcial Facilities office in Kampala to have our prospective missionaries who are earning and saving money for their missions to care for the lawns at both buildings...monthly income 300,000 shillings...way above average. I'll keep this going so that as one missionary leaves another prospetive missionary or two will take his place on the lawn care. This will go a long ways towards meeting their missionary needs.
We have two neighbors with front lawn gardens...corn and okra. I meet with each owner and a couple of our prospective missionaries to have the young men work their gardens for the owner but I would pay them....again earning money for their own missions. Some of these monies earned will go towards paying high school tuition fees, which are quite high. To say nothing of the final exam fee to pass on to the next level.
On another money making matter, we met a friend of a Church member Sunday nite...had them over for dinner. This friend, William, has a non-profit that hires Ugandans to translate documents in digital format from US companies into word documents (we call that outsourcing in the US). It's all about giving Ugandans the opportunity to become independent. Pay is 400,000 to 450,000 shillings per month...up to $169/month. That is good money over here. I've already referred a couple of individuals to him, two of which are our local Church Branch Presidents. One of those has been unemployed for a good while. Keeping my fingers crossed. There is no limit to the number of hires so as I identify other church members/prospective missionaries who qualify, this could be a real blessing for a lot of people...in and out of the Church.
Ate some very good tasting Laboolo, fried green banana's tonite. Taste like potatoes. Isaac taught Pam how to make it. He likes to teach us something every nite.
Power went off Wednesday when the landlord failed to pay last month's power bill. Trouble is, our 3 missionary apts are in our names with separate meters along with the other 4 apt homes in the complex. No matter, if landlord fails to pay his bill, they shut off every meter in the complex. So I beeline it to the power company, show them our current bills and receipts for the 3 missionary units and they issue re-connect order and tell me the power will be re-connected this afternoon. I come home and start looking for the contractors turning off the power...show them the re-connect order and give them ride back to our place. They reconnect the lines. What good that does, power is off to the entire city anyway. Sometimes you can't win for losing.
Break through Thurs nite. We senior couple have been teaching Institute (college age religion study).
Last week I asked Alfred, who just received his mission call to Ghana, to teach Institute tonite. He did a great job! Next week Santos, who is also preparing for his mission will teach. The principle: The more the locals lead and teach one another, the less dependent they are on the missionaries like us. Also, the teacher always learns more than the student when preparing a lesson. Having these young men and sisters teach will only increase their testimonies.
This Sunday we head to Murchison Falls/Chobe Safari Lodge with the Mission President for evening and Monday morning training. Eric Jackson, our MP, is completing 6 years in Africa this June. His wife and President Jackson first came to Africa 6 years ago to head up the Church's Public Affairs for the region for 3 years. Upon returning home, they were asked to return to serve as Mission President for another 3 years He is CEO of a chain of Peterbilt distributors in the west. His sons have been running the business all the years.
A few pics below:
Wow. Just wow.
ReplyDelete