The Journey

We left Kampala on September 28th & arrived in Tulsa, OK the evening of the 29th. Our flights couldn’t have gone smoother. Not only were they early, but we both slept on all of them, PTL!

Being home with our family & friends has been so good! God has blessed us so much with a wonderful support team. We can just imagine God putting in your hearts just what needed to be prayed for us each day. And He certainly supplied all of our needs and beyond, thanks to your generosity.

Greetings from all of our friends in Uganda, the staff at Calo Me Lare, & the kids. They all appreciate so much your sending us to be with them the past 17 months.
 
Our transition back home is very different this time after being away 9 months with no plans to return at this point. Also, this time we have a new granddaughter to add to our enjoyment here. She is truly a delight, as all of our grandchildren are!!! Here is our daughter Evie with our new granddaughter Selah.

We want to say a hearty, “Thank you!!!” for all the love shown to us through your prayers, encouragement and financial support. Our support base has been tremendous! If we ever questioned if God sent us there (which we didn’t…not once) your involvement would have shown the answer.

God changed our lives in many ways, giving us more of a world-view, of course, and putting faces & hearts to people who have real needs which we in America can never comprehend. But one thing is constant anywhere in the world, the need for a relationship with God. It has been our privilege to connect with people (adults & children) on a heart level, and connect people with God. That truly has to be the greatest joy that we experienced. We have seen God do some phenomenal things & it was just amazing to see God at work. Keep praying for the kids, moms, staff & the church at Calo Me Lare. They continue to need prayer. Here we are with an assortment of staff members & one of the younger children, Maxwell in front of the morning glories Dennis planted.

We tried posting a video clip of some of the kids singing at our farewell at Calo Me Lare, but it would not upload. These are the lyrics:

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye,

The time has come now for your departure,

You may leave, but pray for us.
 

We used to clap...sing...dance...eat...play together.

The time has come now for your departure,

You may leave, but pray for us.
 

  After being gone this long we have noticed some huge differences & some similarities & want to share some of those with you.

§  Family! We had each other & our Calo Me Lare family, but we really missed our family in America. If we had it to do over again, we would probably go for a shorter time & then go back. Our son & his family came from Plano, TX to meet us. Our children & grandchildren cleaned the house on Saturday to prepare for our arrival. AND they had stocked the refrigerator & kitchen!!! Our middle son & family also hosted our whole extended family for dinner the night we arrived!!! See the "Welcome Home" sign in the background on the first picture.

§  Friends! God has multiplied our friends! We have them here & there. He has blessed us with so many good friends! We’re so thankful! We love our Community Group at Discovery Bible Fellowship & really missed them. They were at the airport to welcome us back! God provided good friends in an Expatriate Bible Study on Wednesday nights. We would eat together (usually potluck) sing worship songs, and the host would lead the Bible Study. We were all missionaries so our time together was really good. This is Urs & Ursala from Switzerland/Germany who became good friends.

 

§  Rinsing our toothbrush & fresh vegetables under a faucet seems strange after 9 months of using filtered water. Having fresh greens for salad was rare & fresh dairy products were not available. We'll never take those for granted again!

§ For the first time in my life I am ashamed of all the clothes in my closet, wishing I could send some to Uganda.

§  Walking down our street, I met a couple of trucks. In Lira there was an endless parade of people, bicycles, cars, trucks, which never stopped until after the sun went down.
 

§  Driving in the right-hand lane is different here. The roads are much better & we normally don’t have to dodge people, goats, bicycles or buses.

§  Nights are quiet here. We lived 3 gates down from Lira Hotel which hosted many concerts that might end at 2:30am or later.
 

§  Celebrity status. In Uganda when we would walk anywhere kids would run out screaming and dancing, “Muno, Muno”, which means (European, or white person). When we spoke to them it would make them very happy. Sometimes as we walked in the market an adult would walk by and say, “Well done”. They didn’t know what we were doing in Uganda. They just knew we were there to help. This is Thomas with the bananas he picked for us before we left.

 



This is Santa & her children. She gave us a chicken. (Our friend, Joel, told us that when someone gives you a chicken it means they love you very much. Joel's wife, Monica, actually did most of the butchering of the chicken, & they helped us eat it that evening. It was pretty tasty).



 

§  Respect. Senior adults are looked up to in Uganda. It is believed that because of their years of experience they have gained wisdom & should be treated with respect.

§  Family relationships are different. Before a child is weaned from his mother’s breast, he is with her constantly. In many cases after a child is weaned he does not have much supervision. Many parents send their children to boarding school when they reach about 7 years old. Then they are together only on school breaks and holidays, about 2-3 months out of the year. But people are very loyal to others in their family or tribe and will help financially. It is common for a husband to live in one city while the wife lives in a village, or vice versa.

§  Convenience food. No such thing in Uganda. Everything is labor intensive. No pre-packaged, pre-cut, pre-washed food, very few mixes, canned, or frozen foods, unless you buy a few things in Kampala, about 6 hours away. Meat is uncommon for most people, except on holidays, such as Christmas, Easter & Independence Day.

§  Produce is only found in open markets. Avocados & bananas are our favorites. Women carry huge trays on their heads with fruits which they are taking to market. These are a few of the bananas we left in our yard. A couple of weeks before we left we had 10 bunches of bananas getting ready to ripen.
 

§  No ants & critters in the house here. That is a blessing. In Uganda the ants usually don’t show up unless you have fruit setting on the cabinet. It was a great incentive to keep the dishes done & the kitchen clean. Geckos were just something we got used to.

§  Worship services. People don’t say they are going to church in Uganda, but rather, “We are going to pray.” The services include a lot of prayer. The morning begins with praise, worship songs & prayer. Everyone prays at once. The worship is much louder and more animated with a lot of singing and dancing. Children take part in worship & prayer. Praising the Lord gives them great joy! Worship at Hope Alive Fellowship is in two languages. Sometimes they translated only for us. Thank you! Worship at Discovery this past Sunday was wonderful and vibrant. We enjoyed the singing so much & the message was great!

We're not sure what God has in our future but we know He is faithful & we trust Him to lead us. We would appreciate your prayers as we embark on this next chapter in our lives.

Many blessings!
Dennis & Margie

 

 

Greetings From Cool Uganda!!!

God has blessed Uganda with great weather. Some nights the temperature dips to 58 degrees and days are usually less than 80° F. We have been experiencing rain the past two weeks, & everyone is very grateful. This is the rainy season, but it started late and many people were very concerned.

We appreciate all the love, prayers, support & encouragement from our friends & family back in the U.S. God has really given us much more strength & wisdom than humanly was possible, and we praise Him!

We have a very important new person in our family! Selah Evelyn was born to our son Terry & his wife Allison on July 8th. This is the only picture we have with her eyes open. We cannot wait to see her & hold her!!! Many of you already know that Dennis’ mom’s name was Evelyn.  We don't have an option to rotate the picture.

On May 15th Dennis became the Interim Director here and our lives and home have been an arena of activity ever since. We appreciate our dear friends, Andy & Cami Flege who pioneered as directors here & who were very helpful in passing the baton. Dennis has done very well, and God’s grace has been sufficient for every need. However, we have really not had an opportunity to blog since then. Our update follows.

We took Andy & Cami to Kampala on July 2, which is our wedding anniversary. The picture of them is taken in their backyard right before we left. They took us to dinner at the Cassia Lodge in Kampala with this wonderful view. The photo does not do it justice! The food was also fantastic! Andy and Cami flew out late on July 3^rd and we came back to Lira on July 4^th. They will return on September 25th, we will meet them in Kampala for a couple of days & then fly out on September 28th. We plan to arrive in Tulsa on September 29th.

Dennis is now a “Father Figure” for the girls in one house at Calo Me Lare. The Ugandan Ministry would like houses at an orphanage to be as much like a home as possible. So some of the men on staff have taken responsibility to pay special attention to the children in a certain house & see how they are doing. The girls were so happy when they were told Dennis will be their “Father Figure”. Below is his picture with the girls and mom in front of their house.

Pastor Fred has been visiting people in the community & doing a great work. Several people have been saved as he has visited them in their homes. This is a picture of Santa being baptized. Her son is pretty special to us, so we were so excited to hear that she was saved. And now she is baptized. She is a young widow who walks a couple of kilometers to church every week. Pastor Fred is on the right.

Dennis & I taught at a Marriage Seminar for the church at Calo Me Lare on August 19-20. It was a lot of fun and about 40 people attended each day, even though it is the season to dig. The staff also could not attend with Friday being a work day, so we praise God for the good attendance. We were amused that husbands came without their wives and wives came without their husbands...but they came! Pastor Fred thought we must have some experience to share since we just reached our 48th wedding anniversary. A couple of other pastors shared on Saturday. We had many questions to answer. Again, we thank God for what He did!

We have a new Interim Director, Alyela Denis, from Kampala. He comes with a lot of experience & we think he will be a great asset to Project Hope Worldwide. Please pray for him & his family.

These are some of the morning glories that Dennis planted on the fences at Calo Me Lare a few short months ago. They are covering the fences so quickly! They make a beautiful backdrop behind the red cannas he planted last year. The staff at CML will have good memories of his labor of love.

We thank the Lord every day for the opportunity to serve Him here. Words cannot express what a blessing it has been in our lives. We look forward to being home in September with family, friends & our wonderful Discovery Family. We appreciate your prayers that God will continue to lead us. We know His plan is always best!

Love in Christ,

Dennis & Margie

Our Mountaintop Experience

Our adventure on April 28-29 has to be at the top of our experiences in Uganda. Little did we know that when we ventured out to move Pastor Musungu Fred, his wife Moreen & daughter Tryphena we would be surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation. Just thinking about it today brings back many joyful memories. 

We left about 8:00 Sunday morning, expecting to reach Sipi Falls about 1:00. Nope! But memories of the pothole-covered road from Soroti to Mbale pales in comparison to the joy awaiting us in the mountains… 

We reached Sipi Falls about 2:15pm, where we were to meet Wolimbwa Rogers, my translator on the 2008 mission trip. When we reached Sipi Falls we called Rogers and he came to meet us, along with another pastor who grew up in the area we would be exploring. While we waited Dennis talked with some of the locals and saw coffee trees for the first time in his life. Kids surrounded our van and I interacted with them the best I could…only a couple could speak English. This is Silas, who helped me high-step up the mountain. He was 12 years old, but he could hike. I asked him what he would like to do when he grows up, and he replied, "Tour Guide". Coffee beans were growing on trees near the base of the mountain. These are almost ready to harvest. They will be ready when they turn cranberry in color.

Rogers & George took us on a hike up the mountains where we saw the gorgeous & largest waterfall, Sipi Falls (see photo on left). Then we crossed a narrow old wooden bridge, hiked some more and came to the top of a second waterfall. The mountains & vegetation are breathtaking!! We could not believe the great soil on the mountains which allowed the farmers to “dig” (plant crops) on mountain ridges & even on the sides of the mountains. It really is beautiful to see. We could have hiked near another waterfall, Sisiye Falls. (2008 team, remember the waterfall on Dr. Patrick’s property? This is it!)  

About 4:00 we headed towards Rogers’ home village. What a ride that was!!! Rogers was concerned that Dennis might not be accustomed to driving in this type of terrain, but Dennis soon proved otherwise. We saw the beautiful countryside where he lives. He showed us his “coffee gardens” (orchards). He has three separate gardens. Since land is handed down there from generation to generation it is hard to purchase plots together. He also has avocado trees. He showed us the area where he and Pastor George hope to plant a church. Since Rogers finished seminary he has helped a couple of younger pastors get started, but has not really had his own church, but he is a really good pastor.This is a photo of Rogers & his family in front of their home.

The roads had ruts but it had not rained for a few days, and we were able to reach his home…almost! You see, he & his family live on the side of a mountain. It was interesting walking up the path to his house, which we could not even see from below. His wife graciously welcomed us & had prepared a meal for us of rice & beef soup. Beef is usually only served on Christmas & Easter. It was delicious. It was very humbling to be served large helpings of beef while the rest of the family just had rice. We also met his three children. His father, brothers & two close friends were served the meal. Then one by one his stepmother, aunt & other women greeted us during the meal. 

This was such a great experience for me, seeing this humble, faithful, godly servant of God who has led all of his family to the Lord & has such a burden that the people in the area come to Christ. He and several others in the village have started a school for the children in the area. It meets in a crudely constructed building, but many children are learning for the first time in their lives. The pastors in this school are each supporting 5 orphans with school fees to attend this school. I have been praying for him for five years & God has answered so many prayers. My greatest prayer is that God will provide a church of his own to pastor.

As soon as the meal was over it was time to head back to Mbale for the night. Rogers gave us a large sack of avocados which he had raised & a chicken. The avocados are larger than most avocados we see in Lira. They are the best we have ever tasted! We hoped to reach Mbale before dark, but of course that did not happen. When we finally reached Mbale it was a welcome sight to meet Pastor Fred and Moreen. They lovingly welcomed us and we went to our hotel for the night. Dennis was very tired after all that driving and experienced some leg cramps, so he did not sleep well. 

Monday morning we had an early breakfast and Fred met us at the hotel at 8:00. Moreen was teaching in a nursery school but met us in town. Fred had one important stop he wanted us to make. He wanted us to visit with his father. This was again in the mountains, close to the area we had visited on Sunday.  Again it was a beautiful drive with lots of ruts. We kept driving and began to be concerned that we would run out of diesel. Finally we reached his father’s home. 

Fred had told me earlier that he wanted us to share the gospel with his dad, but I’m not sure he conveyed that to Dennis. So I put my Bible in my large purse. Dennis did not have his Bible with him & had left his reading glasses in the van when we arrived at his dad’s house. There were lots of nieces & nephews, and all of Fred’s family who were not out “digging”. His mother greeted us warmly; she is a believer. Then we went inside and met his father, who recently had a stroke and was sitting in a chair.  

Dennis shared the gospel with all of them and I read the scriptures he wanted read. He used the analogy of our reaching up to God as stretching up to get a beautiful, ripe mango which is out of our reach, and told them that our sin prevents us from reaching God. Fred’s dad and many children said they wanted Jesus to forgive their sin and come into their lives!!! What a wonderful day! We are so glad we did not miss this divine appointment!!! 

When we left we took a different, though longer route with a highway and a gas station. God answered our prayers to find diesel.

We packed up the Musungu’s belongings and left Mbale about 2:15. It was a quick trip home with little traffic & we reached Lira by 6:00. Moreen & Tryphena came on Thursday because she had to finish the school term. We are happy to have the new pastor & family. They are living at the orphanage. His installation service was on Sunday, May 5.  Photo below, l. to r. Emiku Dennis, Dennis Baltzer, Moreen & Fred Musungu.

We praise God for His protection and care. An immense “Thank you” to everyone who is praying for us! 

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

What's Happening at Calo Me Lare?!

Hi family & friends!

Thank you for praying for our Easter services!!! God answered prayer in a big way. The kids & adults enjoyed this wonderful day, & God was glorified!!! Thank you for your continued interest & support. We praise God for what He is doing in the lives of the children at the Calo Me Lare orphanage & the surrounding community. We estimate there were about 75 adults and 250 children on Easter Sunday!!!

Dennis took this picture of our Prayer Walk. Bi-weekly on Thursdays the moms, children & I take a prayer walk around the orphanage grounds. We only walk about 20 minutes. Each child grabs the hand of a mom or I and we start walking & praying. Most of the children do not pray out loud yet, but the moms all do. We hope the kids will take part more as we continue walking every other week.  We pray from a specific prayer list, committing different areas of the grounds & ministries to the Lord in prayer.

We now have 64 children & there are two more homes under construction. When they are finished & children who have lost their parents are found we will add 16 more children. We expect this to take place this summer.

Praise the Lord, this week Dennis & I were able to get our special pass to continue serving here another three months without having to leave the country to renew our visas. Thank you for praying about that. Project Hope also received their NGO (Non-Government Organization) renewal, so we are full of praise to God for working in those ways as well.

Drilling for a new water well began at Calo Me Lare today. Praise God for this donation! Sometimes the moms & groundskeepers have to go to a well at the back of the compound to fetch water in jerricans in the dry season. Please pray that this will be a very productive well.

Dennis has been working hard, planting vegetables in our backyard & at CML. Yesterday we left early in the morning & planted Gnuts (peanuts) & pumpkin seeds with the children. “Digging” (gardening) is what many people do for a living. We want the kids to learn to “dig” so they will have that to fall back on when they are adults. The kids really enjoyed it and many of them already knew how to do it. Children start working early here in Uganda.

Five of our kids performed a short drama in Children’s Church today. They performed really well. When we rehearsed yesterday I asked if any of them would like to pray, and one of the boys said, “Yes.” Then he prayed a very simple & profound prayer, asking God to help them.  I was so thankful to God for this step of faith on his part.

We continue to walk by faith ourselves, knowing God has us here for His purpose. Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

He Is Alive!

Easter greetings! Today is Good Friday leading up to Easter. We’re so thankful that we serve a Saviour who is alive & coming again! Thank you for your prayer support & encouragement. We greatly appreciate & need it.

We are planning a big Easter Celebration at Bungabunga Bible Fellowship. Our worship leader, Vicky, will lead us in some songs of praise & worship. Pastor Fred Musungu is our guest speaker for this special service. We’re planning some special Easter treats for the children. Today Cami, a teenager from our Bible Study & I made 330 sugar cookies. We average about 170 kids on Sunday, but we sent invitations out & expect many more. We are planning for each child to frost his/her own cookie & put sprinkles on it. Should be messy & fun!!!

Today is Good Friday. It is a national holiday as well as the Monday after Easter. Dennis worked at the church today & all of a sudden he heard the children wailing. He asked what was wrong. The mothers had explained what Good Friday means, and they all began crying because of Jesus death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin.

We have really enjoyed our guest the past few months. Connie Becker stayed with us the month of January. We had a great crusade near the church March 7-10, & Pastor Fred Musungu & family were our house guests during that time. Connie Madden & Jesaca Gibson came for a special trip on March 12-23 & Connie stayed with us. They organized our store room at Calo Me Lare & brought lots of love & good cheer. This is Connie & I in our living room.

 The two new homes are nearing completion, structurally. See pictures below.

Work on the medical clinic is in progress. All the bricks are made on-site, More than half of the bricks have been made. We think it will be 40 x 60 feet. It will be so valuable to the orphanage & the surrounding community.

 The rainy season has started & Dennis has begun planting our garden at home. The white ants (termites) are out, which to the local Ugandans are a delicacy. They may roast them or eat them raw.

We had a great trip to Kampala Saturday – Tuesday of this week. This was our first trip to not get lost once. We took Connie & Jesaca to the airport on Saturday night. We enjoyed worshiping in an English service on Sunday & relaxing the remainder of the day. Then we had two full days of errands, returning home just after dark in the rain on Tuesday evening. We were unable to extend our visas, so we have someone working on that for us. Thanks for praying. We were able to change our airline tickets to return home on September 28^th.

Thank you to everyone who is praying for us. We pray for you also. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

God at Work!

Thank you for visiting our blog! It is fun to look at your comments on Facebook! We appreciate all the prayers & encouragement we have received from so many people. God has answered your prayers!

Dennis became ill around the 15^th of January and tested negative for malaria. We thought he had a sinus infection so he began taking an antibiotic for that but it did not help. He went to the doctor on January 18^th & again tested negative for malaria, but the doctor started him on malaria medication & he was better in a few days. Two weeks later he had the same symptoms & again tested negative for malaria. We went to a doctor we trusted & he prescribed that Dennis take Quinine for a week. Quinine is a very strong drug which causes loss of appetite, ringing in the ears & low blood sugar, but is very effective against malaria. Dennis had a rough week.  He finished the medication Saturday. Today he was able to work at Calo Me Lare all day. We praise God!

Your prayers have sustained us through this time. We had a couple of reminders in one day of God’s promise to us in Genesis 28:15, “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

On January 19^th the children went to be with their guardians for a week. This might be an elderly grandparent, aunt, uncle or sibling. Four of the children chose not to go, so we tried to plan special activities for them. We took them to the market in Lira. Our social worker, Irene, went with us to translate. Back at CML, Dennis rigged up a Slip’n Slide from a long sheet of plastic which they use for building. He sprayed it with a water hose as the kids slid down it. They had so much fun!!! After the other children returned from their guardians’ homes they all begged Dennis to do it again. This was a great thing to do in the hot weather. We have a video but it would not download to the blog. Our Community Group supports Harriet; she stayed  at the orphanage during guardian week. Here is a cut picture of her. Isn't she beautiful?!

The weather is hot and dry now. Our temperature gauge shows around 90-92 degrees every day. Being close to the equator makes it feel warmer. There will probably be another 40 days of hot, dry weather before it starts to rain. It has been interesting how the trees lose their leaves from the dry weather. The grass looks like it does in July in Oklahoma. BUT our mango trees have been blooming and are beginning to get small mangoes, smaller than marbles now.

Connie Becker was with us during the month of January, gathering information for the school. A pastor friend of ours from Mbale, Fred Musunga, visited us this weekend. It was God’s perfect timing because he preached in Dennis’ place Sunday, when Dennis was not strong enough to do that. We have really enjoyed our house guests and are looking forward to more in March. It is fun helping them experience life in Uganda. If you would like to experience that, join one of our teams & come on over. We'd love to have you!

Again, what would we do without our family & friends who are praying for us. We love you all!

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

Beginning 2013 in Uganda

Greetings from Uganda!

 We arrived in Entebbe on January 3^rd & in Lira on January 4^th. We are thankful that the time change did not affect us as much traveling east. We had a great time with family! Saying “Goodbye” was not easy, but we are happy to serve the Lord in Uganda.

This is a picture of Christmas in our home in Talala with our daughter Evie:

  We brought a dear sister in the Lord from our church, Connie Becker, back with us. She is gathering information from the teachers at Calo Me Lare, schools & school officials in the area about how school is done in Uganda in an attempt to make our school at the orphanage the best it can be. We want the children to have the best education they can possibly have.

On Saturday, January 5^th, we received the traditional welcome special guests enjoy at CML. As we drove in the gate we were very excited to see the new church building for Bungabunga Bible Fellowship. We were pleased to be a part of the dedication service on the 6^th.  Dennis & Andy cut the ribbon to the new church building & Dennis spoke along with Pastor Emiku Dennis. See pictures below:

Connie Becker brought dolls for the girls & trucks for the boys. They played with them all week. The girls made houses for their dolls from bricks left over from the church construction. The boys built roads. They had so much fun! See the girls from Joy’s house with their dolls. Connie is the Muzungu (white person) in photo.

Achola Molly & her boys show off their new trucks below:

We are enjoying life in Uganda again, although this is the dry & hot season. We have not had rain this week, so the grass is beginning to turn brown. It has been fun to have Connie with us. We came home to almost ripe bananas. Below is a photo of Dennis & our guard Robbin with the bananas they cut down. They should be ready in a week or two.

The past few days Dennis seemed to have Malaria. At first he thought it was a sinus infection & began taking antibiotics. Although he tested negative for Malaria three times, he has had the symptoms & the doctor recommended that he begin treatment. When he began treatment he improved quickly. He was able to preach this morning although he could not stand for the entire worship time, which is customary in Africa. He is resting this afternoon. We appreciate your prayers for a full recovery.

Again, we are grateful for your interest, support, encouragement & prayers. We are so blessed to have faithful prayer partners. May God bless you abundantly in 2013!

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie