Uganda 2014

The Lord has done so much for me; I cannot tell it all,

I cannot tell it all, I cannot tell it all,

The Lord has done so much for me; I cannot tell it all,

I cannot tell it all.

This is a song the people sing in the village where we serve in Uganda. We feel that way. God has really blessed our ministry in Uganda these past seven months. We have been blessed with opportunities to disciple kids and adults, good health and energy to serve Him and a great group of missionaries in Lira for mutual encouragement. We are just so thankful for those who welcomed us with open arms as we returned. We are so grateful to all of you who have prayed for us and supported us. Your prayers have been answered and we praise God. 

Dennis is pictured here with some of the kids we work with. Mentoring kids was mainly done by just spending time with them. We taught Character First to the staff on Mondays…the teachers taught it to the kids…the whole staff worked on living it out and helping the kids live it.

Sunday was our biggest ministry day. We taught a Mentorship Class on Sunday afternoons at 4pm. We explored six scriptures each week together with the class. It was fun for us to dig deeply into each verse, trying to anticipate the questions we would be asked - questions revealing the great differences in their culture and ours. We went through a series of 30 topics. Dennis group finished 24 lessons, whereas the women finished 22 lessons before we left. Since then the remaining lessons were finished, taught                                                                                         by Pastor Fred Musungu, his wife Moreen                                                                                     & Grace, who was Margie’s translator.

One highlight of the women’s classes was our friend, Nastanzia, who came each week & is totally blind. She has a great sense of humor and demonstrated a lot of faith as she walked down the road each week being led by her very young grandson. Most of the village men & women do not speak English.

The September team gave us a Prayer Seminar during the normal Bible Study time. It was wonderful! It was a great encouragement to everyone in our Bible Study groups. As the team shared their life stories of how God worked through prayer the people connected with them. Most of our church members came up for prayer at the end of the session. It was our joy to be part of that prayer team. Five teams from the U.S. visited this year. Team members are a great encouragement to the kids, staff and us personally. Praise God for calling people to serve in that way. Here we are eating with our hands during the lunch that day.

  

In August we helped teach a marriage seminar, which God really used in the village to change the lives of the people. On the first day it was to begin at 9:00am. One couple came and waited until noon when others began arriving.

We spent quite a bit of time with Pastor Fred Musungu & his wife Moreen. They are a lovely pastoral couple. This picture was taken at a lodge less than two hours away where we went to enjoy God's creation, have lunch, see the animals and the Nile River.

We arrived home on October 28th. Some long-time friends have a great one-bedroom house adjoining theirs, which is so nice! Sari and our family had stocked the kitchen and the other rooms with everything we need. We are so thankful to them and to the Lord.

We plan to return early next year but the date is uncertain. “Thank you” to our wonderful prayer partners. We value your prayers so much. Please ask God together with us to send others to Uganda who will love and care for the kids, the house moms, and the church.

We volunteer with Project Hope Worldwide. If you would like to know more about this vital ministry, or if you would like to support in prayer, please visit http://www.projecthopeworldwide.org.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie Baltzer

Easter Celebration!

Easter is the second most celebrated day in Uganda, second only to Christmas! In Uganda Good Friday and the Monday after Easter are national holidays. Calo Me Lare (the orphanage where we serve, sponsored by Project Hope Worldwide) and Hope Alive Fellowship also went to extreme measures to celebrate Easter.

There are no Easter bunnies or egg hunts included in the celebrations here. Everyone knows it is Jesus resurrection we celebrate. Families try to come together to have a special meal, singing, dancing and games. How would we make Easter special for our CML (Calo Me Lare) family?!

A few days before Easter our Administrator met with the moms, child representatives from each home, the Social Worker and the three of us volunteering from the U.S. with the specific purpose of planning Easter Day. He wanted the children to tell us what THEY would like to see at Easter and then wanted us to try to arrange it. Singing, dancing, & eating were at the top of their list. One of the girls, Lucky, wanted the moms to have new clothes for Easter. This is how it played out:

Rachel had clothes that the December team had left for the moms. She had given out the kids’ Christmas clothes and had run out of time and energy. Little did she know that God was keeping the mothers’ clothes “for such a time as this.” Rachel & I went through the clothes and were able to give each full-time mom and each step-in mom one outfit plus an extra garment. It was amazing to see how God had prepared in advance for this!

We had a great service Sunday morning. There was much singing, dancing and jumping up & down in praise to our Savior. The children love to sing and worship Jesus. Pastor Fred delivered a powerful sermon about the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus is alive we know we also will live with Him in heaven when He comes again! While He was preaching the children’s teachers were telling them the Easter Story. Each child got a sweet (hard piece of candy), which is a very special treat for them. There must have been about 150 children.

After church we all went to the Center House for our special Easter meal which the children chose: chicken, rice (the moms added cabbage) & sodas. They were all so happy. The children sat in groups in the center house; it was great! J (The moms are wonderful cooks! Each mom cooks for her own children and each day one of them cooks for the staff as well).

Above, Dennis & Rachel are eating lunch and playing with some of the kids.

After lunch Walter, our Social Worker, played some worship songs we would be familiar with in our churches in the U.S. He showed pictures of the children before they came to CML and had them guess who each one was. That was a special time for the kids & staff.

Next, there was a dance contest for everyone who wanted to participate. The kids lined up in fours and competed against each other, dancing to local music. The winner of each group was in the final competition and two boys were the overall winners. The kids had so much fun! There was a lot of laughter. J

Each mom gave her children a small gift, a bookmark which was left by Connie Madden, our President’s wife, last March. The verse on it was John 3:16. I challenged them to memorize it and over half of them did.

Now it was time for the football (soccer) competition. The older kids competed against the moms. The kids won 3-0, but everyone had fun! The moms really seemed to enjoy being with their kids on Easter.

In the evening everyone had supper and we saw The Ten Commandments at the church. Actually, we only saw half of it when the power went off, but it was 9:30 and some of the kids were sleeping so we were dismissed. What a wonderful day!!! 

We are so thankful to be here and share some of these joyous memories.

Thank you for your prayers and may God bless you abundantly for all you are doing to support us and these precious children.

Dennis & Margie

Here We Are Again!

Thank you for your interest in our blog. We arrived in Entebbe late on March 28th. We spent a few days resting up and preparing to come to Lira, Uganda. We arrived the evening of March 31st.

Our first day at Calo Me Lare, the orphanage where we will be working, was April 1. The children and staff welcomed us warmly! They told us they had been praying that we would decide to return. We told them that we wanted to come back, but that we are here because God called us to come back. We have enjoyed the children and staff so much! 

We spent a few days in a bunkhouse located beside our apartment and moved in to our cozy little furnished home away from home on Friday. It came complete with a few furnishings, dishes and a few kitchen items. We purchased a few more things to make cooking easier. 

This is  the kitchen. The cabinets are really nice. We even have an oven, sort of. J I baked a pizza last night, using a long stick to keep the oven knob in place so the stove would stay on. It took about an hour and never really got brown, but it was thoroughly cooked. Dennis adds, “And good.” The staff at the cafe has offered to bake whatever I mix up. Sounds good to me!!!

We have a little patio outback which is really nice. It is shaded and gives us a cool, peaceful place to sit when it is hot inside. The birds’ singing is interrupted occasionally by a chicken or neighbor’s pig.

Our neighbors are directors of another large orphanage, and they have done everything possible to may our stay a good one.

Things are definitely built differently here. The bedroom has a wash basin. The shower room has a commode and clothes rack. They may be in a different location than we are used to, but we have everything we need and more

We live adjacent to “The Path Café”. This is a definite expatriate hangout, with a peaceful atmosphere. We can get a meal there if necessary. Included in our rent is morning tea or coffee and a cinnamon roll or muffin. The café opens at 8am, so we usually cook breakfast or pick up something the night before from the café. The menu includes a bowl of beans and rice for 5,000 shillings (about $2). They also serve hamburgers and chips (about $6). Every once in a while they make fresh ice cream (soft serve), so don’t feel sorry for us. J

Palm Sunday is very much celebrated here. We wish we had stopped to take pictures that day. In town at one spot we saw about 100 people standing near a tree, waving palm branches (and some with yellow flowers attached) and singing. It was quite the sight! In Hope Alive Fellowship (at CML) we also celebrated! Many of the children and adults brought their palm branches to church. Some of them were braided, some with yellow flowers. At one point in the service Pastor Fred explained the significance of waving the palm branches. He told us to sing “Hosanna” to Jesus our King while waving our palm leaves. We sang, “Hosanna” several times. It was a very worshipful morning.

Our next blog will be about Easter. Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie

Here We Go Again!

Greetings from Oklahoma! We have enjoyed our time at home with our family, church family and friends so much this winter with the exception of the cold weather. God has called us back to Uganda and we are ready to begin this new chapter in our lives. We plan to leave March 27th and return October 27th. Then if we are still needed we plan to return to Uganda January 15th, 2015 for several more months.

The verse God gave us is Revelation 3:8: “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.”

We will be staying in a furnished guest quarters adjoining “The Path”, a restaurant in Lira which the expatriates enjoy. We will not have to set up a home like we did last time, so we can jump right in and begin helping at the orphanage Calo Me Lare (pronounced chau-low may laaaah-re) sponsored by Project Hope Worldwide. Our primary ministry will be mentoring at the church & orphanage.

This photo was taken at the annual dinner/auction called Kwero, where funds are raised for Project Hope Worldwide. We are excited that all the proceeds will help orphans around the world. In addition to the funds raised, 27 people became new sponsors for orphans in Uganda and in other countries. If you are interested in sponsoring a child go to www.projecthopeworldwide.org.

We appreciate all the prayer support and encouragement we have received from everyone as we prepare to leave. One of the most encouraging things Jesus said to Peter was found in Luke 22:32: "But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen the brothers." God bless you all for praying that our faith will remain strong and that God will use us to strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters in Uganda. Be assured that we will be praying for you too.

Blessings,

Dennis & Margie