Saying Goodbye

When our mission team left the U.S. to come to Uganda and work for the Lord, they said goodbye to friends and family, with (probably) 100% confidence, that they would see each other again.  When we took this team to the airport 2 days ago, we said "Goodbye, and see you soon," with anticipation that we'll meet again in a few weeks, when all of us who remain here in Uganda, also return to Georgia.  Every day, several times daily, we are bidding someone goodbye, but generally with the expectation that we will see that person again.

 

Yesterday morning, as we were having our team devotional and prayer time, Pastor Moses came with the news that Dickson, one of our 7^th grade students had died in a local hospital from malaria.  As I write this, my tears-which at times I can hold back- fill my eyes.  Even talking about malaria for me is very difficult, since I can only think of it as the disease that took Richard's life.  And yes, I still ask God, "Why?"  Just as we did as we sat around the table, and questions began to form about this young man, who was about to take his final exams to enter high school. 

 

As many children in Africa, Dickson did not have an easy life.  His parents had both died; he lived with his grandmother, who had been very ill recently, then a few weeks ago, she also died.  Pastor Moses had considered having Dickson come and live with him so he would have a safe and stable home.  When Dickson became ill, he was taken to a clinic, tested for malaria and received treatment.  He improved and returned to school, but then began to get sick again.  He was taken to the hospital and started on a different medicine, but he did not respond.   He had trusted Jesus as His Savior, so we know he is now safe at home in heaven.  He will never again be hungry or sick; he will not sleep on the cold mud floor with rags around him.  He will not wonder who is going to take care of him.  He is in his eternal dwelling – and I hope that he and Richard have met again! 

 

During our prayer time, Pastor Moses read from Job chapter 14, which says:

 

"He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue (v. 2) "Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass." (v. 5).

 

We all say goodbye many times in a day, expecting to see our family member or friend or co-worker once again.   But there will come a time, when that goodbye will be final for this earthly walk.  Only if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, will your goodbye be just "See you later."  This is the way I am comforted when I think about Richard.  We are separated from now on this earth, but he is in heaven, waiting for the time when I will say my final goodbye to this earth, and join him and Jesus in our heavenly home.

 

I want my time here to count, to make a difference.  That is why I am here in Uganda, even though the journey is painful.  I don't want to waste any more time, since I know that our time here is fleeting, and we all, like flowers, will quickly fade. 

 

Dr. Brenda

 

 

 

 

 

 

During a rain storm break, Joel shared the Gospel with the workers. 11 of them came to know Christ!

 

The Trusses are UP!!!!!! Praise God!

 

Final Day

This is probably the hottest night it has been all week. Some of us running around doing last minute packing and some of us sitting around shooting the bull. I can't believe we leave in the morning to return home and see are wonderful families and maybe eat some American food.

     Our stretch and blessed was as usual . Very few stretches and many blessings. What another incredible day we have had.

     Me being on the construction team has been an awesome God adventure. When we left this morning to go and work on the church, there was not one truss on the roof. We had ten trusses built from the previous days and four more to go. We immediately starting setting the trusses with the Ugandan builders and their laborers. We were moving really well until a God storm started brewing in the distance. Then the bottom dropped out , the rain came tumbling down very heavy. As we scrambled to get out of the weather, we all ran into the existing church (including the builders and laborers). As I looked outside the door and watched the rain I thought about an opportunity that was at hand. But apparently God had moved in the other team members as well. Aaron begin to look for the Evangecube. Then the next thing I knew Joel had asked all of our visitors to gather up. (Wait a minute I think we are the visitors here.)  Anyhow the Ugandans circled around him and God started to use Joel in a mighty way , just like he has with all of us this week. Joel poured his heart out and shared the gospel. As I started to pray for these men, It just hit me that again God had a plan that was different than us just hurrying up and trying to finish setting trusses. I believe I heard someone say that ten of the men gave their lives to Jesus. Praise the living God. God allowed us to be used by him again. Thank you team for obeying the Holy Spirit. God had given us a real cool refreshing breeze to complete the evening. We went back out after quitting hours and completed setting all the trusses.

   Well Joel just came in and asked if I would pop some popcorn. Someone had agreed to clean up the mess so I guess I will finish this up and join my team with some good ole American popcorn.

   Many other things were taken care of by the rest of the team.  Thank you Lord Jesus for an awesome time here in Africa. Thank you to all our viewers for checking in on us. Maybe you have been thinking about coming on a trip with HHFM, I encourage you to do so. Do not put it off. You will  experience some of the most awesome God experiences you could ever imagine.

Steve M.

Wednesday

Steve & Mark just popped some popcorn the old fashioned way- on our new gas burners. Everyone is attracted by the smell and ends up circled up and sharing the freshly popped treat!  We are now having a wonderful time of fellowship, telling stories and laughing with new friends and old.  It's been a very hard and strenuous day but you wouldn't know it from the way everyone is cutting up. It's amazing how serving God just seems to renew your energy and strength.

Back in July, 63 children at the Busia school prayed to receive Christ.  During this trip we have been trying to disciple them and teach them how to grow closer to God.  Today, we gave each of them a bible of their very own. For some of these children it was the first book they've ever owned.  We walked them through the books of the bible and taught them how to look up verses and stories. They were so excited and really wanted to learn.

Two team members, Jennifer & George visited some of our sponsored churches. In order to sponsor a church, a group or individual donates $1000 to build a church building and then agrees to support the pastor with $50 each month for three years.   We visit those churches periodically to see how their attendance is growing, what new programs they have started (such as youth group or bible studies) and to find out what their needs are.  The churches were very excited to see our team members and made them feel very welcome.

The construction team was successful in getting 10 out of 14 trusses built for the roof along with banding prep work done for the rest. They can't wait until the morning when they get to start putting them up.   They have recruited some African construction workers to help.  Some of them are not believers so the guys now have two jobs to do.

Lots of work done today- all to the glory of God!

Tomorrow is the last day for the team.  But for now, as I am writing this, the men have begun swapping hunting stories and the ladies have slowly started heading off the bed.

Good night to all of our readers. Halleluiah! Amen!

 

God is in Control

Today was another AWESOME day here in Busia, Uganda.  The construction team today continued working on the roof of the Church.  We got the base plates down and some more wood cut for the trusses.  We got to meet the builder here in Uganda that will be taking over to finish up the roof once we leave.  His name is Benard, and after spending the day with him working and talking we found out that he is a born again believer!!  It was another hot day but a very blessed day for the construction team.  Today was the last day of sports camps and it was another successful day.  The team played soccer with many and over 11 kids gave their life to Jesus!!  Sara McCord  worked with over 100 of our kids today getting information and updated pictures for the sponsors.  This afternoon all teams got done around 3 and went back to the mission house to get ready for the Bush Church service.  We left out at 4pm to go to the Church where we were going to have service at.  However God had a different plan.  On the way to the Church the vans got stuck in the mud and were unable to get to the Church.  So after finally getting unstuck which took all the men and about an hour we decided we could not continue to go down the muddy roads.  So we turned around and headed back home.  But there was a church on the way back that is part of the Grace Calvary Christian Ministries Organization with Helping Hands.  Pastor Moses said we should stop there and have service instead, so we did.  It is amazing how God works!!  God knew the Church we needed to go to and it wasn't the one that we planned for.  Joy's son Bryan gave the message and the Holy Spirit used him to present the Gospel where many got saved!!!!  It has been an Awesome trip so far and we are looking forward to see how God is going to work over the next few days as we finish up this trip.  Thank you all for your prayers and support!!!

Joel

On the way to a Church in the bush, we got stuck in the mud....3 or 4 times...