Last Word

Lubas Project Report from Jinja, Uganda

Special thanks from Doctor Richard Sadler of Mission Link International for your support of the 2010 PCC Ingathering Offering. Knowing that over $10,000 in support is "on the way" has enabled the project leaders to move forward with deliberation and speed (Ugandan speed of course).

A new network of steel reinforced concrete beams, shown in this photo, has been poured. While the concrete is curing, bricks will be used to fill in the spaces and enclose the exterior walls. After this the roof rafters we built last summer will be installed with the roofing finally being added.

Note in this photo that all of the concrete used is patiently mixed, batch by batch, in a concrete mixer. Two years ago my grandson, Matthew, spent the entire week mixing concrete on a slab of concrete with a hoe.

One of the neat unintended consequences of all of this relates to Pastor Philip, who we spent much of last June with. Shortly after we left Philip was hired in a position of leadership on this project during the week. We also worshipped at Pastor Philip's church, the one with a partial roof.

In his usual selfless manner, Philip has used much of the proceeds from his work at Lubas to put a complete new roof on Namulesa Evangel church. No windows and doors though, in the typical rural Ugandan fashion. I have no idea what they do during the two, 3 month rainy seasons in Uganda? Please pray for safety for the workers as both projects continue.

Please prayerfully consider joining us next June 2011 as we return to Uganda to work with these fine brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thank You,

David Hoselton

Reflections

In Psalm 40:5 it says "Lord, my God, You have done many things - Your wonderful works and your plans for us; none can compare with You. If I were to report and speak of them, they are more than can be told."

Although we have tried to share with you the highlights of our mission experience in Uganda, we realize that what we experienced during our short time there was beyond words. We learned so much about the spiritual warfare that is all around us, but we discovered the amazing power of the Spirit to overcome the enemy. We discovered the unity which comes from humble hearts willing to put others before our own needs and the blessing which comes when we work together using the spiritual gifts each one of us has been given. We learned that when we are weak, He is strong. And we discovered that giving love in the name of Christ brings a joy beyond any thing that this world has to offer. We learned that we serve a mighty Savior who is willing to bless whatever we offer to His service in ways above and beyond what we can ask or think. And we discovered that we are most satisfied in Him when He is most glorified in us, and vice versa.

For those who have not heard the ending. It never rained on the church on Jinja Hill that Sunday morning while it was pouring at the guest house. There was a wind that blew through the building like the Spirit. We heard testimonies from those who came to church that morning who had accepted Jesus the day before when we were out evangelizing. We pray that the Lord would raise up by His power a mighty work for His kingdom and that He would make them and the area around His hill a blessing. That He might send down showers in their season - showers of blessing. May the trees of the field yield their fruit, and may the flock be secure in their land. Ezekiel 34

The final team members arrived home safely this afternoon. In spite of some lost luggage, some anti-biotic prescriptions for sickness, and dear Laurie who will be having surgery for her broken foot on Wednesday, we testify to all of the Lords abundant mercy and grace which He poured out on us for these two precious weeks serving Him in Uganda.

Sunday, June 13

This is Dave, the Blog non-expert, writing as I am the only one here at the hotel this morning. I had just written up a blog report and lost it in the midst of trying to add a photo (forgot to SAVE it). There was no report last night as I was in bed with the "bug" and everyone else was out of energy. Perhaps half the group have had stomach related complications for some known reasons and some not known.

As I write this the team is worshiping at Jinja Hill Baptist church about ten miles from the hotel. Here at the hotel a brief but intense rain storm has begun. As the church has no roof I hope the Lord has been gracious at the church location which sits perched right at the top of a large hill. The church was originally built by Mission Link but then abandoned, perhaps partially for the lack of roof? Uganda is filled with half finished building of all kinds; homes, schools, churches. Pastor Willy, lead teacher at the Mission Link pastor's school, began to rebuild the church body about four months ago.

Our role yesterday was to split up into small teams to share the Gospel throughout the homes surrounding the church. We had about 30 adults commit their lives to Christ. In our little group of Alex, my granddaughter, and two interpreters we went from house to house and visited where invited to stay. They would bring out their best chairs (sometimes three boards nailed together) carefully placed in the shade and sit down to listen to and watch the Evangecube presentation. As we went from home to home the number of children following us continued to grow until there were close to twenty with us at the last home. I felt like the Pied Piper! When an adult would commit to Christ I would explain that the angels in Heaven were rejoicing and the kids would all break into applause.

While 11 adults made commitments with our group there were many more children who also prayed the sinner's prayer.

Good news: Our medical insurance company has arranged for Laurie (and Craig) to upgrade to Business Class on the return flights, same flight schedule. Laurie will be more comfortable with the added space and foot rest which can be elevated. Praise God!

Friday June, 11 2010

Okay so tonight Kaila and Caleb are writting the blog! yay! so today we went to four different schools in the community. The first two were primary schools and the second two were high schools. At the first school Miss Kathy and Kaila shared the gospel. Somewhere between 32 and 35 kids became our brothers and sisters in Chirst!!!!! We gave out a soccer ball to the kids at the school. It is astounding what they can manage to tie together to make in to a make shift ball, bits of cloth, rubber, or even twigs. At the next school the little kids sang a song and danced for us as a thank you for visiting them. It was amazing to see all this precious little children praising God. At this school Miss Kathy opened again and Randon shared the gospel. Again about 20 kids came forward to accept Christ. The next school was one of the ones that Katie and Alex have been at all week teaching them bible stories and some bible songs. The children performed the songs that they had learned for us. Then Chris shared the word with them. Many of the little ones came forward at the end to ask Jesus into their hearts. Another highlight (and surprise for everyone!) was the children performing a skit that Katie, Jenna, and Alex did for them earlier in the week. The last school was the group of older kids that Katie, Alex, and Jenna have been working with this past week. I do not think that any of us will soon forget this school. The performance they gave was nothing short of beautiful, then Bethany gave her testimony. I do not think that there was a dry eye in the room. At the end when she gave an innvation at first only three girls came forward. In the words of Miss Kathy "when I closed my eyes and started praying there were three up there, when I opened them I could not count them all." Today was an amazing God filled day. Love you guys!!!

...llama....

Thursday

This shall be a shorter report than our customary epistle to our readers back in America. Our fearless dance team leader, Katie, is already asleep. Today proved more challenging than previous days at the schools. As we arrived at Idoome, all three of us (Katie, Jenna, and Alex) were feeling unwell. However, with God's help, we managed to push through this and maintain enough energy to dance and even play "tag" and "island" with the kids. And praise God for the breeze!! We prayed at the beginning of the day that it would persist throughout the day and it did! It even got stronger as the day went. One highlight at Idoome school was listening to the kids sing along to the songs that we have been dancing to this week. At Gateway, despite still feeling under the weather, Katie led the kids in finishing up their dances to perform tomorrow. Although sick, when Katie was dancing, she had as much energy and enthusiasm as the kids! We are bushed, but we can't wait for tomorrow's performance!

Sixty minutes down the pot-holed, red roads outside of Jinja, we (the Widows & Orphans team) arrived in the poorest section of the town. Filled with women and children, the simple mudpacked homes were surrounded with piles of fermenting garbage. As we left the bus, we were welcomed by the usual mob of children; big brown eyes and white teeth, welcoming us to their home. We brought shovels and rakes, put on gloves, and, along with an old wheel barrow and a dozen plastic bags, we began to rake the littered garbage into piles that would later be burned. The kids followed us and, while most of the women watched us curiously from the doorway of their homes, there were a dozen or so who pitched in with the effort to help. After three hours of work in the hot African sun, we managed to clean a small portion of the slum area. After lunch, we had the opportunity to visit the home of the pastor who ministers to these people. Although he could afford better, he has chosen to make his home in the middle of this desperate place. His wife greeted us and presented us with gifts of earrings and necklaces that she had made. It was a humbling experience. After this, we gathered in their church which ammounted to a scaffolding of tree branches over which they threw a blue tarp. The rest of the team prayed while Chris presented the gospel to a group of women and children. At the end, three came forward to accept Christ. Most of the women we spoke to were HIV positive. We praise the Lord that many of them already knew the Lord. The children, some of whom did not even have clothes to wear, clung to our fingers as if they couldn't get enough love. We left with much to think about.

The Construction Team had another busy and productive day at the job site. We continued repairing the trusses, including patches, alignments, reinforcements, and finishing. The day included man handling several old trusses into the repair staging area, requiring the entire team on the site to participate in the heavy lifts. Bolt repair and hardware refurbishing continued to allow for use in the trusses. Old timbers were sorted, cleaned and stripped of usable hardware. No brick work today as the rubbish pile had been reduced of most all usable bricks, which were now smartly stacked on the perimeter of the rubbish pile. Lunch today was peanut butter sandwiches and granola bars....a welcome rest and re-energizing. We also got to meet Steven, the new EMI Construction Manager who will be supervising several projects of which Lubas is one. At the end of the day, we hopped on bota bota's for a quick motorcycle ride back to our lodgings.

Wednesday

The Construction Team started the day strong again at the Lubas construction site. We are really coalescing as a Team, including the hard working Ugandans with which we are working together daily. Again, the emphasis of the day was on sorting, cleaning, and stacking salvageable bricks, as well as making repairs to the old theater building trusses to make them usable again for the new roof structure. The timber frames are heavy, rough cut native timbers and are in surprisingly good shape for their 90 year age. Repairs include straightening and reinforcing. We are also trying to block plane and then coarse sand them which, when eventually varnished, will bring out a beautiful color and grain. We are also straightening nails and cleaning through bolts, washers, and nuts for the truss repairs. There is no Home Depot in Jinja, so items like wood glue, fasteners, sanding belts, and other standard items are hard to come by. If we only knew we could have brought several other items which would have been helpful. We had a very nice lunch today at Ozzie's which included hamburgers, fries, salad, and milkshakes! That fortified us for a productive afternoon. The equatorial sun is hot in the afternoon!



Team Uganda Dance has a new member!! Jenna has joined the force! Today, at Idoome, was hotter than the previous days, more humid, and had the added distraction of the rest of the team visiting the widows about a soccer ball kick away (if you count rolling). However, while our team seems to get tired a little earlier each day, the encouragement of the relationships we are building with the kids (and God's strength!) helps us to maintain momentum as we continue to dance, play games, and share Bible lessons. One highlight of the Idoome visit today was a special guest speaker, Bethany. At a lull in our activities, she came walking across the field to share her testimony. Twenty+ children came forward to pray with her at the conclusion of her talk. Another of today's highlights was a skit about serving God, which both taught and entertained the children, while allowing us to get soaked with water during the antics. At Gateway, we were blessed with a much more successful day of dance camp. While yesterday we dealt with frustrations and difficulties teaching, today the kids seemed to show great aptitude. They were enthusiastic and diligent in learning the steps, showing special excitement about the Friday performance. One of the highlights at Gateway came as we were leaving. One of the children was singing the praise song that we had been dancing to! We hope that those words and what they say about God will stick with the children long after they have forgotten the dance steps. It's hard to believe that we only have one full day left (plus Friday's performances) of visiting these schools and pray that in these last few visits we will be able to share God's love with the children. Keep tomorrow in your prayers as we share the gospel with them.

The Widows and orphans team consisted of Kathy, Rayna, Bethany and Chris. Our day was one that we will never forget. We visited two different rural villages and had the opportunity to share the gospel with over 200 women. Each of us shared our testimonies and what God layed on our hearts. We experienced much spiritual warfare as there were many things happening all around us throughout the day. It began in the morning as Kathy had prepared to speak, she became ill and weak. She was so weak that she had to sit down and give her message. The rest of us were praying for her. But as she spoke she became stronger and stronger and eventually was able to stand. God used her to speak powerfully to these women and many came forward, desiring to have a personal relationship with the Lord. There were 22 women that came forward and we prayed with them. We gave all of the women a gift of soap and salt as they left and they were very grateful. We then visited three different widows homes, which were mud huts, and prayed with them in their homes. We then traveled on to the second church in another village and our van got stuck in the mud, three times! Kathy began feeling ill again and we prayed together, believing that the Lord wanted us to go to this other village but there was a force attempting to keep us from getting there. We finally got out of the mud with some help of a few villagers and headed on. This 2nd location was where Mission Link had built a church for the village. We witnessed the same experience here and found God providing in our weakness. There were 3 women that came forward here. It made us realize how truly dependent we are on His strength. We believe that God is with us because of all the prayers that are being said daily on our behalf. We ask that you continue to pray as we are headed to the slums of Jinja tomorrow to clean the streets and talk with people there. Many of the local pastors will be going with us and we look forward to serving in this way.

Tuesday

The Construction Team had a very busy and productive day today at the Lubas Project Site. David, Randon, and Caleb started off on the brick pile, continuing to salvage, clean up, sort, and stack demolished bricks for future construction use. David's first blow of the day with the chipping hammer resulted in a rock chip in his left eye. Charlton tried to remove it with a Kleenex, but quickly switched to bottled water to successfully flush it clear. Fortunately, there was no apparent abrasion. God is good! Needless to say, safety goggles were thereafter used. Charlton had a great day supervising and getting to know some of the Ugandan workers on the project: Richard, Sam, Thomas, Joel, and Ronald. It was rewarding to show them new tips on using the tools to dismantle the old trusses into usable components. Later in the day, it was great to see them using the new techniques. They are all good, hard working men with great smiles and strong backs. John Sauder and intern Matt worked out details of some new plate fixtures for new construction joints and had a prototype fabricated into town. Worked perfect the first time so only 27 more to go! Craig worked with Johnnie, the skilled Ugandan carpenter, throughout the day to repair various joints through out the trusses. David, Randon, and Caleb switched to helping repair various bolting hardware for the re-construction effort. The original 90 year old bolts and tie rods are of superior quality to currently available hardware, so we are trying to re-use them as much as possible. Another day completed at the job site--the Team is starting coalesce and work very productively and supportively together. Praise God!

It is a fact universally known that a child, in the company of peers, is in want of a soccer ball. Call us Team U-Dance (i.e. Uganda Dance, i.e. Katie and Alex). Okay, that was probably over complicated, but we are tired. Anyhow, whether we shall prove to be the heros of this, our story, or not shall remain to be seen. However, it is certainly arguable that today we were upstaged by a soccer ball. Returning to the Idoome school for a second time, we enjoyed a warmer welcome of familiarity from the children. We continued, with augmented enthusiasm from the less-shy children, learning dances, adding a second to yesterday's first. The real peak in the children's delight, however, was most certainly the soccer ball that we brought. After playing with the younger group and referreeing the older group (we aren't sure we would have survived let alone be a competitive force!), we left the ball to replace a sad mass of plastic bags wrapped in rubber bands that they had formerly been using. The school at Gateway proved, again, slightly more challenging. It is difficult to walk the line between a dance that is easy, but boring, and interesting, but difficult. Like any American kids, they are shy and easily embarrassed when they have difficultly picking up some of the steps. Thankfully, they maintained mostly positive responses, although we had moments of skepticism and uncertainty. We finished teaching them the dance from yesterday, however, and were able to share the enjoyment of accomplishment and hopefully, we will continue to be able to bond over the intensity of this crash course dance camp. Please pray for the school at Idoome on Thursday when we will share the gospel message specifically. Also, please pray for Friday when we have performances for the children's parents planned at both schools, using the opportunity to share the gospel with the parents.

After feeling some spiritual warfare yesterday, the widows and orphans team met this morning for prayer. It really made a difference because we felt God's presence everywhere we went! First we went to visit a widow's group run by a woman named Judith. They make jewelry and other crafts as a way of making money for themselves. We were able to speak with them, share our testimonies, and give them gifts. After buying some jewelry, we went to visit two widow's homes. One home had been built using the money from selling jewelry. After a nice lunch and some shopping on Main Street in downtown Jinja we went to visit a childrens hospital. It was very tragic to see. It was very crowded and many of the kids were very sick. It made us thankful for the wonderful children's hospitals we have in America! It was here that we were able to give out socks that had been donated by many of you. After that we had a much happier experience visiting the Welcome Home Orphanage. For the first time we were able to interact with the kids in an orphanage! We took about 40 kids ages 2 to 5 out to a field to play. They loved being held and having their pictures taken! The team loved spending time there and we hope to make time to go back this week.

Monday

Today was our first day on the construction site, called the Lubas Project, which is the East African Headquarters for Mission Link International. The visiting construction crew consisted of David, Caleb, Randon, Charlton, Craig, and Kaila. All but Craig worked most of the day on pulling bricks from a large demolistion pile, and then cleaning them of old mortor with chipping hammers, and then stacking them in orderly rows for future use during rebuilding. Craig and the Engineering Ministries International (EMI) intern, Matt, along with the EMI East Africa Office Director John Sauder worked all day on organizing the crews to start repairing the old theater roof trusses that had been removed. The timber trusses were heavy and aged, being installed originally when the theater was constructed in the 1920's. We all had a great day but lots of heavy work, especially for our backs!

As the rain pours down outside, we (Katie and Alex) are exhausted from a day of playing tag and dancing, but extremely enthused to return! After an endless drive down the dusty red road (or series of potholes rather), we got our first glimpse of the rural primary school at Idoome. Our anxiety rose as we were informed that there were 91 students, ages 5-13, anticipating our program. However, the blessing that we would experience was amazing! Because the children were younger and spoke little english, we decided to run a more VBS-like program, relying on God's direction of our improvisation. Our energy rose at the encouragement of the children's smiles as we played games like "red light green light" (which we attempted to use the Ugandan words) and told Bible stories. We also began teaching them dances to praise songs, which we hope to continue practicing for a performance at the end of the week. Afterwards, we changed venues to a secondary school at Gateway. Here the students spoke some english and were about 14-16 years old. Although the older children (about 30 out of the 2000 who attend) were at first more difficult to keep the attention of, they proved a better fit for the Music Camp. Despite being tired from a day in the sun, with God's help, we found the energy to spend a little over an hour teaching a more complex version of the dances to them. Once they began to focus on what we were doing, they became enthusiastic, some of the older students helping us to bridge the language gap. Apparently we speak quickly!! We are looking forward to a solid night's sleep and then, of course, returning to the schools tomorrow!! Lord willing, we already have plans for the rest of the week.

The rest of the team, Kathy, Rayna, Chris, Bethany and Jenna went to visit and encourage orphans and widows. First, we went to Jinja Hill Baptist Church to meet with the widows. Many of the widows shared their stories of how their husbands died. More than half of them said their husbands died of AIDS. That is very common in Uganda and why there are so many orphans. After we shared, Pastor Willy gave an invitation and two women received Christ as their savior! We also visited two orphanages with many children in them. In the Sonrise infant orphanage the aunties cared for 8 babies at a time. This is hard to imagine but they all seemed loved and cared for. The woman that was the director for Sonrise was a graduate of the other orphanage that we visited later in the day. The second orphanage, Good Shepherds Fold, was a much bigger campus. They have about 90 orphans living there, from babies up to age 17. They also have a school which is open to local children, so there were a total of 200 children attending the school. We had a tour of the campus and then went to visit several classes, where we shared bible stories and shared the gospel.
Laurie is doing better each day and she has an awesome attitude despite her current circumstances and has encouraged each of us!
Please pray that the Ugandan people would hear our presentation of God's message clearly in each situation.

Well, we made it to Jinja, Uganda. First night Laurie fell down the stairs and broke her ankle, single break, now with a cast, and she is now in her own wheelchair!! Yeah! Great worship at Pastor Phillip's church this morning. I am still having trouble with this Blog thing AND the wireless Internet service we are trying to use is intermittent? I am using John Sauder's computer as my own will not allow me too connect to the Internet.

Lubas project photo

Below is a 2009 photo of the Lubas project building (two grandsons in front) we will be working on in 2010. The two tiered roof (which covered a 1920's British theater) in the upper right side of the photo has been removed this week and we will be working on the rebuilding and refinishing of those trusses while the walls are being rebuilt. The front section of the building is already in use as a school for Ugandan pastors with an emphasis on character development as modeled by Jesus Christ. Another finshed building is behind me as I took this photograph.

The "joy" of setting up a blog

Boy, for a 70 year old (setting up the blog), this was a test of my level of technological illiteracy. Please excuse me as I try to figure how to make this work, especially when we are in Uganda, where I have no coaches. Thank you Lord, for patience and for computers to communicate accross the Big Pond.